


Lemon Flu: Aftermath

by Narsil



Category: Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Continuation, Dubious Consent, F/F, F/M, Hiatus, Temporary Ranma-chan, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-31
Updated: 2014-04-26
Packaged: 2017-11-23 04:11:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/617936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narsil/pseuds/Narsil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Japanese mad scientist that has been persecuted all his life both for his gaijin blood and physical deformities decides to use a genegineered flu virus to <i>really</i> mix the islands' races, and as a result changes everything for the Neriman Wrecking Crew, the Sailor Senshi, and all the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Girl Time

**Author's Note:**

> The first bit of this story will seem a little info-dumpy. That's because this comes from a story thread at Anime Addventures, titled "Lemon Flu," basically an excuse to string a bunch of lemons together. When I was just starting with adding my own episodes, I noticed that the various branches of the story didn't have a Ryoga/Ranma-chan lemon and decided to add one, just for practice. Then my mind started playing with various possibilities for what happens next, more episodes got tacked on, and _viola!_ , I had the beginning of a story. But when I decided to post my stories elsewhere, I left out the preceding string of mostly-lemons, many of which weren't all that well written, anyway. Hence the rewritten info-dump in the first few paragraphs.
> 
> This story is basically on the back-burner, so once I get all my current chapters up it will be essentially going on hiatus. I may add an occasional chapter, but not with the regularity of my other stories.

Up on the roof of the Tendo home, Ranma lay back and looked up at the stars. He was just spending the time enjoying watching the heavens. And the time that he got to rest, it had been _way_ beyond that kind of day.  First there had been the flu that seemed to be hitting most everyone to one degree or another—him enough that he’d skipped his morning katas in the dojo, Akane and Nabiki enough that Kasumi had insisted that they stay home so she could look after them in spite of the fact that she was coughing a bit herself.

Then there had been the morning at school, that had gotten increasingly warmer, accompanied by a pounding headache — though that might have been from tension caused by the way all the girls had been staring at him like a cat eyes a mouse.  Or as it turned out, the way a _very_ ‘hungry’ woman eyes a man.  As he’d learned when lunch time arrived and Hinako-sensei had asked him to stay behind, then jumped him as soon as they were alone.  _Not that you fought it much_ , Ranma thought, wincing as he remembered how easily his teacher had gotten in his pants.  And Ukyo and Kodachi of all people as soon as he left the classroom, and Miyo as he’d been leaving the school, and when he’d made it out of the school he’d been jumped by Natsume and Kurumi, Azusa, Rouge, Shampoo, all on the way home, then each of the Tendo sisters once he’d finally reached the dojo — twice each!

_At least the Tomboy can’t blame this one on me, it’s not like I was the only guy affected.  There was Sanzenin with Asuka, an’ Kuno in that schoolbus with Mariko an’ the entire cheerleading team, an’ all a’ them were_ way _beyond liplockin’.  Even Mousse got some girl — I think.  He had_ somebody _over his shoulder when he went by, but it was kinda hard ta see who with all the chains.  Besides, I was ... busy._   Ranma sighed.  It didn’t matter how obvious it was that it couldn’t possibly be his fault, Akane would find a way to blame him, anyhow.  And considering how often she accused him of being a pervert, how was she going to react now that he’d ‘proven’ it was all true?

He yawned, massively enough that it felt like he was trying to split his head in half, then rose to his feet.  Time to get to bed, and see what tomorrow would bring.  At least the exhaustion had finally suppressed the lust that had been washing through him all day, at least enough that he could fall asleep.  Hopefully, it wouldn’t be back in the morning, he didn’t know if he could survive another day like this one.  He chuckled at the thought of his mother — whatever else happened, the seppuku contract wasn’t going to be an issue anymore.

Just as Ranma was getting ready to step off the edge of the roof and drop-and-swing through his window, he heard someone push open the front gate and glanced down to see the Lost Boy push his way through with that pig girl he’d met not too long ago, Akari, asleep in his arms bridal-style.  Grinning, Ranma jumped down from the roof to meet them. “Hey, P-chan, good ta see ya!” he called out as he walked up to the pair. Glancing at the disheveled state of Akari’s and Ryoga’s clothing, he added, “So ya got whatever everyone has been hit by, too.”

Ryoga stared. “ ‘Too’? You mean _you_ were affected?”

“Me, an’ everyone else we know around here. It’s been crazy, one girl after another throwing themselves at me, or any other guy they came across.”

Ryoga started to bristle, but the weight in his arms reminded him of what he’d been doing himself not long ago and his shoulder slumped. “Yeah,” he sighed, “it _has_ been crazy today. Listen, can I put Akari down somewhere to sleep?”

“Sure,” Ranma responded instantly, “be right back.” He hopped up to the window of the room he shared with his father and disappeared inside, then reappeared a moment later, tossed down a futon and some blankets, and leaped back down beside them and picked them up. “Let’s put her in the dojo.”

“She isn’t good enough for the house?” Ryoga growled, starting to heat up with anger instead of lust.

“ ‘Course she is,” Ranma replied. “It’s just ya don’t want to go inta the house right now — no knowing who ya might run into.”

Ryoga stared uncomprehendingly for a moment, then blanched as memories of the people he’d passed before he and Akari had met and ... done that ... rose in his mind and he hastily nodded. “Right, dojo it is.”

The two headed over, and Ranma shifted his load to one arm as he went in front and opened the door, only to be met with a cupful of cool water in the face accompanied by the sound of multiple clicks and a near blinding light as the light and the automatic camera set up in front of the door activated. “Nabiki,” the now small and busty redhead growled as she blinked her eyes clear and walked in, carefully avoiding the camera — as tempting as it would be to smash it, Ranma didn’t need to add to her debt. Walking over by the wall, she laid out the futon, waited until Ryoga gently laid the Sumo pig raiser down, then covered her with a blanket and piled the others by her head. “C’mon, let’s let her sleep,” she whispered. Ryoga nodded, and the two quietly headed for the door (Ranma helping point Ryoga in the right direction).

As they walked, Ranma began to feel lightheaded ... and was it getting warm all of a sudden? Things were starting to get a little hazy, too ... except for Ryoga in front of her, he was crystal clear — and a fine image of a man, all that training had left him _wonderfully_ sculpted. The heat Ranma was feeling slowly centered between her legs, and she could feel her nipples tingling as they tightened and her loose shirt rubbed against her chest as she walked.

“Ryoga?” she managed to gasp out quietly as they re-entered the yard.

“Yeah?” he responded absentmindedly as he headed toward some chairs by the door to the house.

“Ryoga, look at me,” Ranma demanded, grabbing his arm. Ryoga stopped and turned, and the confused look on his face turned to shock when the petite redhead beside him pulled his head down to kiss him hard on the mouth. Ryoga froze for a long moment, then his arms seemed to rise by themselves to circle his friendly rival and he began to inexpertly return the kiss. Somewhere inside, his mind was screaming at him that this wasn’t Akari, that this was his _male_ rival whatever she looked and felt like — _and doesn’t she feel good!_ , another part of him responded, the part that he had repressed so long but had opened up for the first girl he’d truly loved. Though no one would ever know, he’d been able to resist the Lemon Flu better than anyone else that day. But now that resistance had been shattered, and his hands slid up and down Ranma’s back as their mouths parted and their tongues began to wrestle.

Ranma had her own voice in the back of her mind insisting that she was a guy, that this wasn’t ‘manly’, what would her ... his mother think if she found out.... But that voice was much fainter than Ryoga’s. Ranma had already been in one encounter after another that day, and the effect of the Lemon Flu on her female form had smashed into her out of the blue, with no chance to brace herself even if she’d known she needed to. Even as their tongues entwined, she found herself loosening Ryoga’s pants, pulling them down along with his boxers, running her hands over his tight buns and pulling herself against her rival’s rampant erection. Then Ryoga shifted, slipped, fell, and the two found themselves on the ground, kiss broken, with Ryoga clutching Ranma to his chest.

The passion was broken for a moment as the pair started laughing, but the laughter died quickly as Ryoga started stripping off the rest of his clothing and Ranma followed suit. Already having his pants and boxers around his ankles Ryoga finished first, and caught the pigtailed girl as she slid off her own pants and boxers and slung her around to the ground and eagerly lay across her with his head at chest level. Ranma gasped and unthinkingly spread her legs wide as Ryoga started nipping, licking and sucking on one of the breasts she had flaunted at him more than once to win their not-so-friendly spars. One of his hands fondled the other breast while his other hand slid between her legs and along her folds to find them already moist and dripping. A finger slipped up into her and rubbed around, then slipped back out and slid up between her folds. Ranma gave out a slight, breathy shriek and arched her back as her clit was deliberately touched for the first time and a small orgasm ripped through her.

Finally, Ranma could wait no longer as the ache continued to grow through one mini-orgasm after another. She pushed Ryoga away from her chest, then grabbed his buttocks and tried to pull him up into her. She failed, but what she wanted was clear and Ryoga pushed himself up and, after fumbling about a bit, finally got himself into position. Ranma let out a long, shuddering gasp as she felt the head of his generous cock push past her folds to sink slowly into her soaking sheath. Ryoga groaned at how tightly her hot tunnel gripped him, then slowly began to pump, each thrust taking him deeper and deeper until he felt his balls bounce against Ranma’s ass. For a moment he paused, bracing himself on his arms and looking down at the sweating, flushed face of his second lover. Then she wrapped her spread-out legs around his waist and _squeezed_. He took the hint and again began to plunge in and out of her depths, picking up speed and power with each thrust, his chest rubbing against her quivering, then shaking , breasts.

/\

Akane awoke with a gasp in her bed, the dream she’d been having of herself and her fiancé enjoying some ‘private time’ on a deserted tropical island echoing in her mind. She looked around groggily for a moment, then like a blow the memories of her two — no, three — times with Ranma hit her. What had she been thinking? What had she been _doing_!? What had _he_ been doing!? This all had to be Ranma’s fault, somehow!

She pulled herself to her feet with a growl and without bothering to dress headed to Ranma’s room — no Ranma. She’d turned away from the door, when the sounds coming through the hallway’s open window registered. They sounded strangely familiar — like the sounds she and Ranma been making themselves not so long ago. Was that pervert and one of her sisters ... ? She rushed to the window and stared down into the yard to see — _Ryoga_!? What was _he_ doing here? And if it wasn’t Ranma, where was he? And which of her sisters was Ryoga pounding like a jackhammer? Then she caught a flash of red hair as the girl beneath Ryoga tossed her head back and squealed in passion, and Akane’s mind went blank.

For a time Akane stood at the window and stared unseeingly at the copulating couple. Finally awareness seeped back as Ranma again cried out her passion to the world. Akane slowly moved away from the window and out of the room. Unthinking, her feet found the stairs. Then she was standing in the yard and watching the pair up close as she felt the now-familiar heat already awakened by her dream rise in her again. She found herself rubbing her clit and along her again-wet folds, and thought about how she had felt when she had finally found Ranma in her room — the way she felt now. Sighing, she slowly walked toward her fiancé and friend and knelt down to pull on Ryoga’s shoulder.

Pausing, Ryoga looked up and gasped out, “Akane!” while sitting up without pulling out of Ranma’s tight sheath.

At Ryoga’s shout, Ranma jerked and her pleasure-filled eyes focused again to see the raven-hair-bracketed face of the girl she loved looking down at her from where she knelt. “A-Akane?” she whispered fearfully.

“Ranma ...” the naked brunette got out, then broke off. She stared at the fearful redhead for a few moments, then bent down for a long kiss. Breaking off from the now stunned Ranma, she looked up at a _very_ surprised Ryoga and asked, “What are you waiting for? Finish her off!” Ranma suddenly laughed and emphasized the order with a jerk of her legs, still wrapped around Ryoga’s back. He shook off the shock and, reaching down and gripping Ranma’s waist, resumed pounding into her.

Akane slipped down and captured a generous breast in her mouth even as a hand slid back to her dripping cleft. It didn’t take long before Ranma again felt the wave building ... and building ... and finally it broke and she shrieked, every muscle going rigid, as her pleasure exploded through her. Her sheath clamped down hard on Ryoga’s pistoning cock, and that was all it took as his rod swelled and pumped spurt after spurt of his seed deep into her.

Slowly, Ranma came down from the height her last and greatest orgasm had sent her to, and gazed blearily up at her two lovers. “W-Wow, that ... was ... incredible ...” she managed to gasp out as the exertions of the long day caught up with her at last and she faded into sleep.

Akane looked down from where she had sat up with Ranma’s final orgasm, staring down at the slumbering, sweat-covered redhead and slipping her fingers out of her own cleft. _Wow, is that what_ I _looked like? That was just ... wow._ She glanced over at an equally sweat-covered Ryoga still kneeling between Ranma’s legs and considered the _need_ that had been building in her as she’d paid attention to Ranma’s busty assets, then nodded. “Well, big guy, you up for one more round?” she asked. When a gaping Ryoga failed to answer her, she moved over and leaned down to take his limp rod in her mouth, starting to suck as she cleaned it of Ranma’s juices and Royga’s own cum.

She didn’t really know what she was doing, but it didn’t matter much with the effects of the Flu still echoing through them both, and soon Ryoga’s cock was once again at full extension. Akane whistled softly. “How on earth did you get that monster into Ranma?” she asked, then grinned. “Well, if Ranma could take you I certainly should be able to.” Turning away, she got on her hands and knees and waved her ass at her friend. “Come on, give me what you gave Ranma!” she demanded. Ryoga hastily moved up behind her and guided his cock to her cleft with one hand while gripping a thigh with the other, much more easily this time. Akane’s jaw dropped as he buried himself to the hilt with a single thrust while his now free hand gripped her other thigh. He was immediately pounding her for all he was worth, and soon the yard echoed to her own shouts and squeals as he jerked her back to meet each vigorous thrust.

But it had been a long day from Akane as well. Her arms gave out and dropped her head to the grass, forehead across one arm while the other arm reached back so her fingers could reach the nub above the cock thrusting into her. Finally, Ryoga’s cock again stiffened even harder and at the sensation of his seed exploding into her, filling her and spilling out to trickle down her legs, Akane’s own final orgasm exploded as well. She collapsed beside the still-sleeping Ranma, gasping and shuddering from the aftershocks. Finally the tremors faded, and she reached out to gently brush a lock of hair away from Ranma’s eyes, then pulled herself up against the smaller girl and faded back to sleep herself.

Ryoga looked down at the sleeping couple, then staggered to his feet. Weaving slightly while focusing like a laser on the door of the dojo, he made his way in, then back out with a blanket. He draped it across the two girls, then turned back to the dojo. He decided some kami had taken pity on him when he managed to find his way back to Akari’s sleeping form, and he wrapped himself in the last blanket before lying down beside his love and sleep finally rolled over him.


	2. A New Day, and a New World

Nabiki’s eyes snapped open as her clock/radio activated and the opening of her favorite morning news show came on. Blearily, she focused on the time and groaned — the time was right, the opening musical number was right, but it sure didn’t _feel_ like it should, even for her!

Slowly, the pageboy-styled Tendo sat up and dropped her head into her hands, elbows resting on her knees, and rubbed at her cheeks. She _ached_ , like she hadn’t since she’d given up practicing the family Art along with Kasumi, and in places she’d never ached like this before. And why was she naked instead of dressed in her usual night-clothes? ... Then the memories of the previous day rolled over her, and she froze. _Her?! And Ranma?! Twice?!_ She couldn’t even blame Ranma for it, like Akane did so often, not the way she’d ambushed him instead of the other way around. What on _earth_ had possessed her? _Wait, maybe it_ was _a possession — maybe something_ used _me to get at him. It wouldn’t be the first time someone’s targeted bystanders to make him jump. Whoever or_ what _ever it was, I am_ so _going to make it regret this ..._

Then, as her shock settled and the burst of adrenaline echoed through her body, the feel of something wrong nagged at her, pulling her attention outward — something was out of place ... Then she had it, the opening music of the news program had been right, but the voice of the announcer was wrong. Instead of the usual joking, sardonic male voice she enjoyed so much there was a shaky, untrained female voice:

“... _reports c-continue to come in of a wild day and night for Tokyo, with almost every male above pubescence driven to seek whatever partners of the opposite sex they could find for sex, with the same holding true for women above pubescence up through middle age. Whatever has caused this, it s-seems to have worn off by this morning. However, as best can be determined, similar outbreaks are occurring in every major city of Japan as well as some other major cities around the w-w-world. As well, reports are flooding currently severely understaffed police stations and emergency lines of deaths, primarily of men. Included among the dead is your u-u-sual morning h-h-h-host...._ ” The unfamiliar woman making the announcement lost control, and for a moment her weeping was audible before her mike was cut and the station went to a commercial.

The middle Tendo sat and stared to the radio. _All right, so it wasn’t a possession aimed at Ranma ... or at least, not_ only _at Ranma.... Ranma! Dad!_ Jumping to her feet, Nabiki threw herself at her wardrobe, hastily dressed, and rushed out to check her sisters’ bedrooms, no one there, to the guest room—no Ranma, no Genma ... only one futon. _Okay, so far, so good._

Down the stairs, _nobody in Happosai’s room, good, and good riddance if we’re lucky_ , to the kitchen, Kasumi cleaning and cooking as usual ... Nabiki stuck her head in the doorway. “Kasumi, have you seen Dad or Ranma this morning?” Kasumi glanced over at her sister with a brittle parody of her normal serene smile and shook her head, and her younger sister headed toward their father’s bedroom, passing the empty family room — nobody there, either, nobody in the furo ... _Where could everyone be?_ Then, remembering the missing futon — _the dojo!_

Nabiki darted out of the changing room, ran past the kitchen to the door to the covered pathway to the dojo, then froze at the sight of two blanket-covered girls on the lawn to the side of the pathway. Slowly she walked over, then sagged with relief as she saw that both her raven-haired sister and the redheaded girl whose breast Akane was using as a pillow were breathing. Then Nabiki’s eyes narrowed. _Okay, if they’re here on the grass, who’s using the futon?_

Quietly approaching the door to the dojo, she peeked in, then smiled at the sight of Ryoga curled up in a blanket next to a sleepig Akari on the missing futon. _Too bad I don’t have a camera with me_ , she thought, then noticed her camera on the tripod in front of the door. _Make that a camera with unused memory. I suppose I could delete a few pictures to make room...._ Tiptoeing over, she took the camera off its tripod and cycled through the pictures in its memory, only to freeze at the shots of a wet redhead in the dojo doorway with Ryoga visible behind her. _What the ..._

The bemused girl walked out of the dojo and gazed down at Akane and her fiancé sleeping on the lawn, then looked back at the dojo door, then after a moment shook her head. _Something about that scene is_ not _right, but figure it out later. First, there’s something else to take care of._ After taking a few pictures of the pair on the lawn, she headed for the house.

/\

A deeply worried Kasumi was rushing to clean up the dishes she hadn’t taken care of as usual the day before, making room for a late start on breakfast, thoughts of herself and a certain gorgeous hunk of a martial artist, and what they’d done — what she’d _pushed_ them into doing — replaying over and over in her mind. _What were we thinking? What was_ I _thinking!? What is_ Akane _going to think!?_

Then her concentration was broken by the sound of a clearing throat and the household’s foundation looked up to find her middle sister leaning against the doorway with a sardonic grin on her face.

“Have fun with Ranma yesterday?” the earth-haired girl asked, and Kasumi gaped in shock — _She knows!_ The aproned girl simply stood and stared at Nabiki, and the younger girl sobered and straightened up as tears began to spill down her sister’s cheeks. She walked over and awkwardly wrapped Kasumi in a hug. “I’m sorry, that didn’t come out right — it was supposed to be funny,” she said as Kasumi began to sob on her shoulder.

“B-but I _did_!” the older girl cried. “I — I seduced Ranma a-a-and betrayed Akane, and I don’t know _why_!”

“I do,” Nabiki said soothingly. “It wasn’t just you, it was all of us. I jumped Ranma, too, and a certain busty redhead is sleeping next to Akane out on the lawn, both wearing nothing but a blanket. And Ryoga’s in the dojo sleeping next to Akari. From what the news said this morning, whatever made us do that hit most everyone in Tokyo, so I think Akane will understand — this time. But Kasumi,” — Nabiki pushed back to arm’s length — “the same news report said an awful lot of men are waking up dead this morning.”

“Oh, my!” Kasumi gasped as her hands flew to her mouth. “Father? Uncle Genma?”

“I don’t know, big sis, neither of them are anywhere in the house or dojo — I just don’t know. They’re both in good shape for their age, but ... And I don’t know where to start looking to find out.” Nabiki glanced around at the mess of the kitchen, then gave her sister a weak grin. “Looks like you got a late start this morning. Would you like some help?”

Kasumi gave her a tremulous smile that failed to hide the worry in her eyes, and nodded. “Yes, I would. Can you finish cleaning up while I start breakfast?”

“Sure, big sis, no problem,” Nabiki said, trying, and mostly succeeding, at a reassuring smile, and the two sisters got to work side by side.


	3. A Cat, a Duck, and Some Senshi

Mu Tse slowly opened his eyes and looked around. Okay, he was in his room, as normal, but the weight on his arm wasn’t normal at all, and he glanced down fondly at the thicket of purple hair covering his shoulder. Finally, his dream had come true! Then, remembering the chaos he’d been surrounded by the previous day, his mind started racing, thinking hard for ways to keep his dream from becoming a nightmare as soon as his love woke up — she was _not_ going to be happy at all that it had been him instead of Ranma last night....

Then his time was up as the naked girl pressed up against him (causing a perfectly natural reaction that he vainly did his best to suppress before the light of his life noticed) started to stir. Then, he shook Xian Pu completely awake when he jerked at the sound of a voice from the corner of the room — a young girl’s voice: “Oh, good, somebody’s awake. Could one of you please untie me?”

The two Amazons on the bed sat up and looked toward the corner to find a slight, frail-looking dark-haired girl in a school uniform they didn’t recognize liberally bound by some of Mu Tse’s chains. “What little girl do here?” Xian Pu asked, confused. Then, remembering the previous night, she whirled on Mu Tse. “Duck Boy no happy with Shampoo, go and grab little girl after Shampoo fall asleep!”

Mu Tse pushed himself backwards as he started gabbling denials that Xian Pu was clearly ignoring, when the girl’s voice interrupted the budding argument. “Actually, I was here the entire time. Now, please untied me? I’m really uncomfortable and I need to pee _really_ bad.”

Xian Pu froze, then with a huff walked over to the dark-haired child without a hint of concern for her lack of clothes and quickly untied her. “Bathroom to right of door, down hall on left. Come back when done?”

“Right!” the strange girl said, and stiffly ran out the door. With their guest taken care of, Xian Pu turned back and stalked toward Mu Tse. {So you had her before I arrived? How could you!? Surely out of all the women throwing themselves at men yesterday you could have picked someone older!} she yelled in their native dialect.

{But I didn’t pick her, she picked me!} the long-haired boy insisted, backing up to against the wall as Xian Pu approached. {And it wasn’t for sex, either! Just when everything started getting wild, she ran up to me asking for help. She gave me a strange-looking stick and asked me to hold onto it for her, and to keep her from jumping me, or any other man—that’s why I tied her up, to keep her here and away from me!}

At that, Xian Pu paused and frowned. {Where’s the stick?} she asked. Mu Tse pulled a short purple stick topped by a small faceted ball made of some sort of crystal over a gold star out of his weapon space and handed it to Xian Pu. The purple-haired Amazon examined it closely and frowned. {What is it?} she asked.

Mu Tse shrugged. {No idea,} he replied, {but the girl thought it was important.}

“Oh you have my henshin wand,” their guest said from the doorway. “Thank you so much for keeping it safe. Can I have it back now?”

“Of course girl have wand back,” Xian Pu said, handing it to the girl, then noticed that the girl was carefully looking at her face and sighed. “Wait here while Shampoo get dressed,” Xian Pu ordered, and headed for the door. “Stupid Duck Boy get clothes on!” drifted back over her shoulder. Mu Tse blushed and shooed the schoolgirl out the door so he could dress in private.

/\

“So, child, what is your name?” Ku Lon gently asked their frail-looking guest after introducing the three Amazons while the four sat at one of the Cat Café’s dining room tables sipping tea.

“And why girl tied up?” asked Xian Pu.

The girl blushed bright red. “My name’s Hotaru,” she said softly. “My class was on a field trip yesterday to Nerima’s martial arts museum, when everything ... got strange. I started feeling warm and tingly, and ... and the boys started looking, well, good ... and everyone started taking off their clothes, and the g-g-girls and b-boys started t-t-t-t-t —” she stuttered to a halt, and Ku Lon laid a hand on her arm.

“The same thing happened here, child, no need to describe it,” the Amazon elder said, and Hotaru nodded gratefully and took a moment to compose herself.

‘W-well, a part of me wanted to ... well, to join in,” she eventually continued in a barely audible tone, faintly blushing again and looking down at her teacup. “But it might be dangerous, I couldn’t know. So I looked around and saw a boy that didn’t look like he was affected the same way and asked him to help — Mousse, here. He said he would and picked me up and started running down the road. But I got warmer and ... and I .... started undoing his top, and he stopped and made a bunch of chains appear out of nowhere and tied me up. Then he brought me here.”

“And nothing happen?” Xian Pu demanded.

Hotaru shook her head, though her blush went from red to blazing scarlet.

Noticing Xian Pu’s suspicious look, Hotaru hastily said, “No, nothing happened. But I _wanted_ it to. I begged him to untie me and he ignored me until you jumped through the window, and then the two of you were too ... busy to listen to me.”

Ku Lon quirked an eyebrow. “So, Mu Tse, no urge to sleep with Hotaru but no resistance to Xian Pu?”

Xian Pu froze, and Mu Tse quickly blurted out, “No, it wasn’t like that! I didn’t lose control, it was just ... I could run away and leave Hotaru behind, or fight Xian Pu, or give her what she wanted! And I had promised Hotaru I’d protect her, and I’ll never fight Xian Pu, so ...” his voice trailed off, and Ku Lon nodded and turned to Xian Pu.

“I would have expected you to seek out your _Airen_ , rather than Mu Tse, child,” the matriarch said reprovingly.

“But Shampoo seek out _Airen_!” the purple-haired girl responded. “And _Airen_ very good ... Shampoo think. Memory hazy, and when Shampoo wake up _Airen_ gone. So Shampoo come home and find Mousse.”

Ku Lon sighed. “I see. Well, perhaps if we are lucky you will be pregnant with his child and we can go home.”

Hotaru looked from one face to another uncomprehendingly, then hesitantly asked, “Can I use your telephone? I lost my cell phone and my parents will be worried.”

Of course, child,” Ku Lon said. “I’ll show you where it is, while these two” — looking sharply at the two Amazon teenagers — “get cleaned up. They smell.”

/\

Setsuna slowly stirred as a ringing telephone shook her out of some _very_ pleasant dreams. Raising up on one arm, she looked around at the crowded bed — _very_ crowded with two other women and one man, all naked and tangled up in its sheets. Sighing, she got up and without concern for her nude state walked over to the phone while the rest of the bed’s occupants started to stir. Yawning, the emerald-haired woman picked up the phone and without waiting for an answer, said, “Good morning, Hotaru. I hope you aren’t too stiff from your rather uncomfortable night. I’ll get Haruka-papa up and as soon as she’s grabbed a quick shower she’ll be out to pick you up.” She hung up the phone and turned back to the bed.

At the mention of Hotaru’s name, the two women still on the bed had bolted upright. “Hotaru! Is she all right!?” the woman with long, tangled green hair shouted, and Setsuna made a calming gesture.

“She’s fine,” the Senshi of Time assured the two. “I made sure of it before joining you here. When the Lemon Flu started affecting everyone, she found a protector to keep her safe and, well, restrained.”

“You could have told us earlier!” the other woman with short blond hair insisted. “I searched as long as I could before whatever hit us got too much ... I _tried_ to find her, I really did, but I couldn’t and I barely made it back here before —”

Setsuna had walked over as Haruka babbled, and quieted her with a soft touch to her lips. “I know you did,” she said. “No need to feel guilty — you tried your best, fought the flu better than most, and no harm’s done, Hotaru’s fine. She’s at the Cat Café in Nerima, so get cleaned up and go pick her up.”

Haruka nodded and bolted from the room, quickly followed by Michiru. Setsuna turned back to the bed, deliberately putting herself on full display for the now furiously blushing slim, dark-haired man still on the bed. “Well, Endymion, I’m afraid you’re just going to have to wait until after I and the girls get done before you get a chance at the shower. But at least you transformed _before_ we tore your clothes off you, so you’ll still have something to wear to the Senshi meeting this afternoon.”

“Usagi!” Endymion exclaimed, starting to leap out of bed before remembering his unclothed state and hastily pulling a stained sheet from the bed to wrap around his waist. “Is she all right?”

“Physically, she’s fine,” Setsuna said sadly, “but emotionally ... well, she should be the one to tell you about it. That’ll be cathartic, and she’ll need that badly.” _And I won’t have to be the one to tell you that one of your best friends is dead._ “Once you get showered, head over to the Crown Arcade, you’ll find her in the back room.” Then, hearing Haruka rush past the room headed for the front door and her car, followed by Michiru headed for the kitchen at a more sedate pace, Setsuna said, “ _That_ was certainly quick. Sounds like the shower’s free. You go ahead first, Usagi needs you more than I need to get cleaned first.”

Endymion nodded his thanks and hurried from the bedroom for the shower.


	4. Wake Up Call

Nabiki hummed softly to herself as she puttered around the kitchen, getting the last of the previous day’s mess cleaned up and put away. Though she’d never admit it to anybody (knowing that was a good way to get stuck with regular housework), she had enjoyed helping out her older sister and mother figure. And even if she hadn’t, watching as Kasumi slowly relaxed would have made it worth it.

Finally, the last pan clean, the middle Tendo looked around the kitchen. “The cleaning probably isn’t up to your usual standard, big sis, but at least it’s done. Anything I can do to help with breakfast?”

Kasumi looked up from her cooking. “No, I have everything under control,” she said with a weak but genuine smile. “Why don’t you wake everyone up so they’ll have time to clean up before breakfast?”

“Sure,” Nabiki said, and strolled out toward the dojo. On reaching the yard, she looked down at her sister and brother-in-law-to-be with a short-lived and private, if fond, smile, then looked around the yard — and stiffened as her earlier unease with the scene returned.

_Okay, there’s something wrong here. But what? Everything is normal, except for Akane cuddling up to a_ female _Ranma and the clothes scattered around — wait, those are_ Hibiki’s _clothes, not just_ Ranma’s _! And Akari looked completely dressed under that blanket...._

Nabiki walked over to the doorway to the dojo and stared at the couple sleeping inside, Akari on the futon and Ryoga curled up beside her. She thought about the photo her camera had captured of Ranma’s redheaded girl form with Ryoga in the background, then turned and quietly collected Ryoga’s clothing and walked back into the dojo. Dropping the clothes by Ryoga’s head, she gently shook the pair, then sat back on her heels as they shook themselves awake and sat up. Nabiki grinned appreciatively at the sight when Ryoga’s blanket fell away, and the large boy blushed and quickly wrapped it around his waist.

“Welcome to the dojo,” she said quietly. “I’m guessing you two had as wild a day yesterday as everyone else?” Akari blushed and Ryoga paled, and Nabiki smirked. “Thought so. Kasumi’s cooking breakfast for everyone. But there’s something you should know — on the news this morning, the announcer said that a lot of the men hit by whatever-it-was have died. I don’t know how many, but enough that the police and hospitals are badly understaffed.”

Akari gasped and shot to her feet. “Grandfather!” she exclaimed, “I have to get back to the farm!” Turning to Ryoga, she hesitantly asked, “Please, can you come with me?”

Ryoga hesitated, and Nabiki added, “I haven’t gotten Ranma up yet,” then suppressed a flinch as Ryoga grabbed his pants and put them on underneath the blanket. _I was afraid of that,_ she thought.

“Of course I’ll come, but you’ll have to lead me,” Ryoga assured Akari as he quickly threw on his shirt. Grabbing his backpack, the two made hasty farewells and were gone.

Nabiki followed them out the door and walked over to the pair sleeping on the grass. _Ranma and Ryoga,_ she thought, _and it was_ my _camera trap that caused it. He is going to kill me, if Akane doesn’t beat him to it. Well, I might as well get it over with._ Taking a deep breath she bent down to shake her younger sister’s shoulder, then froze when she noticed that Akane’s eyes were half-open and watching her. Sitting back on her heels, she simply gazed back at the raven-haired girl for a long moment, then quietly said, “Ryoga and Akari are gone, and Kasumi’s fixing breakfast. You two need to get cleaned up, first.”

Akane lifted her head and nodded, and a relieved Nabiki headed for the house even as she determinedly ignored the thought that she had only put off the inevitable....

/\

Akane rolled onto her back to watch her older sister head into the house, then sat up and looked down at the still-sleeping redhead, as her thoughts returned to the path they’d worn since Nabiki’s first trip to the dojo had awoken her. _Nobody’s fault — it can’t be. Evenif I can believe Ranma would have ... taken advantage ... of me yesterday when I ... jumped him, there’s no way he caused the, the_ need _himself. And what happened with_ Ryoga _! There’s no way Ranma_ chose _to do that, the way he acts ‘manly’_ all _the time is one of the most irritating things about him. He — she — had to be suffering the same need. And_ Ryoga _had to be feeling the same as well — even if the sweetest, most chivalrous boy I know would take advantage of a girl, it wouldn’t be_ Ranma _, not the way they constantly fight_.... She stared down at Ranma for a few more minutes, then took a deep breath. T _his is not going to go well, but Ranma has to wake up sometime._

Reluctantly, Akane reached out and gently shook her fiancé’s shoulder, then harder when the smaller girl barely stirred. Sighing, she leaned down and shouted, “Ranma!” inches from the other girl’s ear, then jerked back as Ranma rolled away and up into a crouch, looking quickly around.

“Akane? What are we doin’ out here?” Ranma asked, then the naked redhead’s eyes widened as the memories of the previous day — and evening — rolled over her, and she was on her hands and knees and doing her best to empty what little there was in her stomach out onto the grass. Dimly, she sensed her fiancée kneel beside her, felt her pull her braid out of the way, and flinched back. “I didn’t do it! I mean, I did it, but I didn’t mean to! It was ... it was ...”

“... something else,” Akane gently finished for her. “I know. There’s no way you would have done something like _that_ with Ryoga, of all people, if you’d been in control of yourself.”

“Ryoga!” Ranma gasped, looking around frantically. “Where —”

“Ryoga’s gone,” Akane hastily reassured her, “along with Akari.” Then, when Ranma slumped in relief, Akane pulled Ranma up by her arm. “Come on, Ranma, let’s get cleaned up before Kasumi finishes breakfast.” Putting her arm around the smaller girl, Akane steered her toward the house.

/\

Ranma jerked to a stop when the two reached the door to the furo. “Ya go ahead an’ get cleaned first,” she hastily said. “I’ll just wait out here.”

Akane shook her head. “No, there probably isn’t time. Besides, after what happened yesterday — what we _did_ yesterday — I don’t think just bathing together is something to get excited about.” Her chuckle was just a bit forced, and even that died off as Ranma stared at the floor.

“I really didn’t mean ta do that. Ya do know that, right?”

Sighing, Akane again took her fiancé by the arm and pulled her into the furo room. “Yes, I know, just like I didn’t really mean to. I’m not going to hit you or anything, just — I’ll scrub your back if you scrub mine, okay?” After a moment Ranma nodded slightly, and Akane suppressed a sigh of relief. _Ranma needs to feel manly, and there’s nothing manlier than sex — so, a little seduction for his own good._ Carefully, she ignored the memories of the previous day, and how _good_ it felt, Ranma pistoning into her ... “Okay, me first,” she said, grabbing the soap and starting to get lathered up.

Akane finished quickly, and hurried Ranma through sudsing up and washing off, then watched as Ranma stepped eagerly into the furo. _Let’s see, once we’re in I can snuggle up to him and casually brush against his thing, and ..._

Her thoughts skittered to a halt, as she suddenly realized that Ranma had completely stepped into the steaming water ... and nothing had happened — Ranma’s curse was locked. She stared, frozen in place, even as Ranma collapsed into a sitting position on the edge of the furo and began to shake. Shaking herself out of her daze, Akane slowly walked up behind her fiancé to hear her murmuring, “... no, please, not again, not now ...”

Slowly, she knelt down behind the redhead and wrapped her arms around her stomach as she rested her chin on Ranma’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Ranma,” she whispered in her ear, “it’ll be just like the last few times — you’ll spend awhile locked, go on a quest, pound some perverts into the ground, get the curse unlocked, everything will be back to normal.”

“But what if it doesn’t?” Ranma asked. “The other times I was locked ‘cause a’ stuff other people did ta me. This time, where do I go, who do I hunt down? What if it’s ‘cause a’ whatever hit everybody yesterday? What if it changed the curse somehow and it never unlocks? What about _us_?”

_Good question, what if it_ doesn’t _unlock?_ Akane thought, and her mind flashed back over the last several years, memories of the rumors about her sexuality that had started up after she’d started fighting the Hentai Horde every morning and then even more after Ranma’s curse had become public knowledge, the way some girls, girls she’d liked, had started avoiding her, the way she’d ‘punished’ Ranma for it out of sheer frustration. And then, her mind turned to the times Ranma had played with his girl side, the way she’d flirted for extra food, her happy face as she dove into a bowl of ice cream big enough for any three normal people — the rush of heat Akane had carefully ignored even as she’d berated her topless fiancé while Ranma wrung out her shirt but had never quite forgotten, and how last night she had latched onto Ranma’s breast like a lamprey while Ryoga had been giving the redhead the jackhammering of a lifetime (at least, she _thought_ so, not exactly having a lot of experience to compare it to).

“Nothing changes,” Akane said. “We go on, _as a couple_ , just like we were planning. You _were_ planning on that, right, Ranma?” she added dangerously.

“Y-Y-Yeah, a’ course!” Ranma almost shouted. “But ya’ always go on about me bein’ a pervert, an’ get mad if I stay too long in girl-form, an’ ... an’ ... an’ you’ll want a _guy_ in yer bed, not some girl smaller an’ weaker than you are!”

_Well, you did think that a little seduction was all Ranma needed,_ Akane thought wryly to herself. “Ranma, last night, just who was suckling at your breast like a newborn baby? It sure wasn’t Ryoga,” she whispered softly in Ranma’s ear.

Ranma stiffened. “B-But ya were sick from whatever that was — that ... that ... lemon flu,” the smaller girl stuttered.

“Yes, but that ... lemon flu — good name, Akane added with a chuckle, “drove me toward _guys_ , Ranma. I’d spent all day yesterday before you got home alone with my sisters, and never thought once of going after one of them. No, my attraction to you was ... something else.”

Ranma thought about it, remembered all the girls throwing themselves at guys, and not each other (and vice versa), the way she’d reacted to Ryoga after getting splashed (fighting down a wave of nausea), and slowly nodded. “Ya mean it?” she asked in a small voice, then froze as Akane’s hands rose from around her stomach to cup the generous mounds of her breasts.

“Yes, I mean it,” Akane whispered, as she ran her thumbs across Ranma’s nipples.

The redhead moaned softly as those nipples stiffened from the attention. “B-But, breakfast ...” Ranma stuttered.

Akane chuckled again. “Breakfast can wait,” she said as she continued to play with Ranma’s breasts, then felt Ranma relax back against her. She smiled to herself as she listened to Ranma’s moans and gasps, then felt her new lover suck in a deep breath and arch against her. “Ranma, did you just come?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Ranma gasped out. “Oh, _damn_ , that felt good. Not like last night, but ...”

“That’s because while breasts are fine, the main action is down _here_ ,” Akane murmured, and Ranma gasped again as one of Akane’s hands dropped from her breast to the moist spot between her legs. She moaned as she felt Akane’s fingers run along between her folds, then spread her legs wider as Akane slipped first one finger, then several more up into her wet heat and started to slowly pump, her palm rubbing against Ranma’s clit.

/\

Outside the door to the furo, Nabiki stood frozen, her hand in the air to knock, as the sounds of Ranma’s passion again grew in strength. After a time, she slowly stepped back, then turned and quietly headed back to the family room, smiling to herself as Ranma’s cry of release rang out behind her. _So Ranma’s a screamer. Good for you, little sis._ Then, sobering, _Now, maybe I’ll actually live through my next meeting with Ranma._

She walked into the family room to find Kasumi already staring toward the door, frowning thoughtfully. “We might as well get started, big sis,” Nabiki said nonchalantly. “It sounds like Akane and Ranma are going to be a little late.”

“Was that ...” Kasumi got out before stumbling to a halt, and Nabiki nodded as she knelt at the table.

“Yup, that was Ranma — good thing, too. Come on, I’m starved.”

/\

Ranma opened her eyes, every muscle limp and the only thing holding her where she sat was Akane’s embrace. “Oh, oh, oh wow ... last night wasn’t a fluke,” she gasped out.

Akane smiled. “So, convinced I’m serious about sticking with you, through whatever?”

Reluctantly, Ranma broke out of Akane’s embrace and turned in place to face her lover, eyes shining as Akane sat back. “Yeah, ya gave a convincin’ argument.”

“Good,” Akane said, then eyed the sweat-slick redhead. “Now, let’s get you cleaned _again_ , get where you’ve been sitting wiped down before Kasumi makes us empty and clean the entire furo, and go eat. I’m surprised Kasumi or Nabiki haven’t been knocking on the door, yet.”

Ranma gazed at the smoothly muscled raven-haired girl kneeling in front of her, then shook her head. “Nope, we aren’t quite done yet.” Before Akane could protest she reached out and picked her up by the arms, and shifted her over so she was sitting on the stool. “I’ve had my fun, but you haven’t had yours yet,” the redhead whispered, then spread Akane’s legs and knelt down in front of her.

“Ranma, what are you AHH!” Akane gasped out as Ranma leaned down and ran her tongue along her dripping folds.

“Saw this in one of Daisuke’s movies,” Ranma said, looking up with a grin. “Let’s see how well it works in real life.” Wrapping her arms around Akane’s thighs, she dove back in and Akane’s own moans and gasps quickly started as Ranma’s tongue slid the length of her cleft, then dove in as deep as it could reach.

R-Ranma, don’t stop, that f-feels so good, don’t AHHH!” she half-shrieked, jerking and falling backwards to brace herself on her arms as Ranma reached one hand across and her thumb flicked across Akane’s clit. Her head fell backwards and she stared unseeing at the ceiling as her speech degenerated into incoherency, then fell silent except for strengthening moans until with a shriek of her own she convulsed, her arms giving way and dumping her backwards onto the floor.

For a long moment Akane lay there gasping, then lifted herself to a sitting position, one hand rubbing the back of her head as she looked at Ranma, now sitting back again on her heels. “That was fun, but let’s not try that position again, the end hurts too much,” she complained, then chuckled at Ranma’s smothered laughter. _Good, he’s — she’s —_ really _relaxing,_ Akane thought, then mock-frowned. “But you’ve made a mess of yourself, eating your meal,” she said, looking at her juices coating Ranma’s lower face. “That won’t do at all!” She leaned forward and slowly licked Ranma’s face clean. The smaller girl simply closed her eyes, then reached out and pulled Akane into a hug when she started to sit back.

“Thank you,” she whispered, as Akane returned the hug. Finally, Ranma broke the embrace and cleared her throat as a blush stole across her face. “Well, now we _both_ need to clean up all over again, and with all the noise we’ve been makin’ I’m surprised Kasumi hasn’t broken down the door!”

The two girls quickly soaped each other up again, and washed each other off (not without a _few_ strokes and tickles), dressed in spare clothes kept in the changing room, then headed out toward the dining room. They stepped through the doorway, to freeze at the sight of a Kasumi trying to force a gentle smile into a disapproving frown, and an openly grinning Nabiki.

“So, Ranma, you finally chose a fiancée.” the middle sister crowed, “and in such a public way, too! If you two intend to keep this up, you’re going to need to buy some ball-gags or learn to keep it quiet — the rest of us will want to sleep sometime, you know. You’re just lucky both fathers are still out, or they’d be calling up a minister right now.” Then Nabiki’s grin faded away as she looked at the two fiercely blushing girls. “Ranma,” she hesitantly asked, “why are you still a girl?” She paled as Ranma just looked down at the floor while with a concerned look Akane placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “You’re locked, aren’t you?” Nabiki asked, then, when Ranma nodded, closed her eyes as tears started to trickle down her cheeks. “Oh, Ranma, it’s all my fault, I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

The other two sisters stared at her. “ _Your_ fault?” Akane questioned.

Nabiki opened her eyes and nodded. “Yes, _my_ fault — it has to be connected to Ranma getting changed and ... and ... and having sex with Ryoga, and it’s my fault. I ... I set up a camera trap in the dojo, and Ranma walked into it when he was taking the futon in for Akari last night,” Nabiki confessed miserably, her gaze dropping toward the floor.

Akane felt a growl rise in her throat and started to stalk toward Nabiki, only to stop when Ranma grabbed her arm. Turning to look at her lover, she growled, “But Ranma —” only to break off at Ranma’s headshake.

Letting go of Akane, Ranma stepped over and knelt next to Nabiki. She wanted desperately to blame the older girl, the one that had made money off her at every opportunity, sold pictures like the ones she’d taken the night before, but after the way that _Akane_ had just accepted what had happened, hadn’t blamed _her_.... “No, Nabiki, it wasn’t your fault, not really. Sure, ya set up the trap, but ya hardly expected everybody ta, ta go into heat, did ya?” Then, when Nabiki simply continued to stare at the floor, asked again, more forcefully, “ _Did_ ya?”

“No,” Nabiki whispered.

“And if I’d done my usual workout like I should have yesterday morning, I would’a tripped it then, instead a’ last night. It was just dumb bad luck, that’s all. Besides, it might not be permanent, maybe it’ll fade away in a little while, or maybe the ol’ ghoul will know a way ta unlock it. Who knows what’ll happen?”

Nabiki took a deep breath, then squared her shoulders and straightened up. “Right!” she said firmly, then smiled tremulously at Ranma. “And Ranma, whatever you need, anything at all, if I can get it for you, I will.”

Ranma nodded as she smiled back. “Thanks, I’ll remember that. But first I need ta speak ta Cologne, and before that ...” She looked at the table loaded with food. “I’m starving!”


	5. Not Everybody's Happy ...

Kodachi slowly stirred, then opened her eyes and froze — that wasn’t her bedroom ceiling she was looking at, where was she? And which of her concoctions had landed her here this time? Carefully not moving, she cataloged how she felt and frowned — she didn’t feel any of the usual aftereffects, in fact she felt great! A little chilly without any clothes on and not so much as a sheet over her, but great. But if it hadn’t been one of her creations, then what ... ?

She lightly gasped as the memories of the previous day flooded into her — the _need_ hitting her at school, leaving for Furinkan to search for her Ranma (beating off several would-be lovers in the process), finding him (and how glorious _that_ had been, even if she’d had to share him with that peasant of an okonomiyaki chef), waking up in the classroom and finding Ranma gone, then when they realized what was going on all around them Ukyo’s suggestion of another man that would need their help ... _Ranma left us — Ranma left_ me — _undoubtedly to return to that violent maniac that always gets in the way and he’s always protecting. He ... he must really lo — Oh, Ranma...._

Gently pushing herself up to a sitting position, with a bittersweet smile Kodachi looked down at the two naked forms lying on the floor next to her, the cook and the drop-dead gorgeous _boy_ that had been waiting for her and Ukyo when they’d arrived at Ucchan’s. (And hadn’t _that_ been a surprise — a boy prettier than she was, not that she’d ever admit it.) Ukyo had been so forceful, and the boy — what was his name? oh, yes, Konatsu — Konatsu had been so sweet and gentle, it had been a good afternoon and evening, and night. If only ... _Don’t torture yourself, girl, your father ignores you, your brother hates you, every man you’ve let get close has used you and walked away, Ranma’s rejected you ... why should these two want you any more than the rest? Just be happy for the good memories and go._

Feeling the long familiar pain welling up, Kodachi wiped away the few tears she hadn’t been able to suppress and quietly rose from the blanket-covered floor they’d been lying on, then gathered up her clothes and left the room.

/oOo\

Ukyo watched through slitted eyelids as her lover of the previous day and night quietly left the room, and sighed softly in relief — that certainly made things less awkward. But, had those been tears? _No, not a chance, this is_ Kodachi _, after all. Though, yesterday_ ... Shaking her head clear of the memories, the earth-haired chef braced herself up on one arm and gazed down at the lithe, feminine form of the boy that has served her so faithfully for months. _He’s not Ranma. He’ll never be Ranma. But Ranma left me...._

She spent several minutes staring down at her self-appointed servant, tears leaking form her eyes as memories of the past and thoughts of the future coursed through and intermingled in her mind, then decided.

Leaning down, she slowly licked along the limp tool that had provided so much pleasure the previous day, then took it into her mouth and ran her tongue around it and sucked. She smiled around her mouthful as it twitched and she felt it begin to grow, then heard a groan from the kunoichi.

“M-Mistress?” Konatsu gasped out, and Ukyo let her mouthful go as she reached up and laid a finger on Konatsu’s lips. The fingers of her other hand took over for her mouth, stroking along the length of his hardening rod.

“Shhh,” she shushed. Judging from her memories that Konatsu’s erection had reached its full length, she swung her body over his hips, positioned the tip of his cock at her still well-lubricated opening, then hissed as she sank slowly down until she was firmly seated. _A little sore — after yesterday, that shouldn’t be a surprise._ She leaned down to kiss the gorgeous boy beneath her, thrusting her tongue into his mouth as he gasped in shock, then sat up and began to bounce on the rod filling her so pleasantly, her hands rising to caress and support her bouncing breasts.

For a few minutes Konatsu simply lay there in shock at what was happening to him — whatever had hit them yesterday was gone, he could tell from the clearness of his thoughts, but still the woman he’d loved was loving him back and only in his most hopeless dreams ... He reached out and pulled Ukyo down onto his chest, then slid his hands down along her body to her buttocks, grasped those two luscious mounds, then began to thrust up into the center of his world.

Ukyo gasped as for the first time since she’d met him, Konatsu took charge even a little. _Good, this could work_ , she thought before losing herself in her rising pleasure as Konatsu continued to thrust up into her harder, faster, she was pushing back to meet his thrusts, and then ... she felt him swell inside her and the newly-familiar feeling of his cum spurting into her depths, filling her cleft. _No, not yet!_ she protested silently, then smiled ruefully as her lover thrust into her a few more times then sagged back along the floor. _Okay, so it’s going to take a little practice, why I thought otherwise ..._

Shaking her head at her own naiveté, Ukyo laid her head on Konatsu’s shoulder for a few minutes as his erection softened and slid out of her. Finally, she braced herself up on her hands and gazed down at the beautiful, flushed face beneath her. “Konatsu,” she whispered softly, “will you be my fiancé?”

/oOo\

Dr. Mizuno Saeko slowly blinked her eyes, then closed and rubbed them thoroughly and re-opened them. Nope, the mirror above the bed she was lying on didn’t disappear. She flopped her head to one side and grimaced a bit at the decor — while it had been a few years since she’d been in one, there was no mistaking a room in a love hotel. _And from the way I feel, I made good use of it, too, too bad I can barely remember the fun. So, when is my last clear memory?_

She’d gotten up ... a little later than usual, it was an unusual extra day off from her hospital work (at her boss’s insistence), and had been planned far enough in advance that she’d been able to arrange a rare meeting with her phone friend, Tsukino Ikuko. The meeting had been far enough away from Juuban that they were unlikely to be encountered by acquaintances ... they’d met at their chosen restaurant, gotten caught up on gossip, commiserated on their mutual fears that one night their daughters wouldn't come home, or come home in a box, and their inability to let their daughters know they weren’t really fooling their mothers without possibly risking their lives by giving them extraneous concerns in life-threatening situations, had explored some possibilities on actually having some fun with the situation by playing with their daughters’ minds a little....

Then, it had seemed like the restaurant was getting overheated, and she’d suggested they move to an ice cream parlor. _There,_ that’s _the point where everything starts getting hazy. Let’s see, we started toward the ice cream parlor, I noticed people were starting to act ... unusually amorous, I was thinking that it looked like fun and trying to remember how long it had been since I had gotten any, and ..._

And that was when a couple of strange men had literally swept her and Ikuko off their feet and carried them toward the nearest love hotel. _Really_ handsome _men, too — or at least I_ think _they were. I certainly thought so at the time ... I think. You know, I didn’t think of it then, but Ikuko didn’t put up much of a fight. Strange, that, she’s always seemed such a straight-laced woman, and passionately in love with her husband — I’ve envied her her love so much._

_Okay, obviously we were drugged, and so was everyone around us, it must have been an air-born agent of some sort — Ikuko will be devastated, but her husband is a good man, he’ll understand, she’ll be all right eventually. So, first to get us out of here with the least amount of awkwardness possible, then start putting her back together._

Saeko rolled onto her side to reach over and shake the shoulder of the man lying next to her, then froze — the man was cold, too cold. Shooting up to a sitting position, she stared down at the lifeless eyes staring up unblinking at the mirror above them, then looked around wildly. _Ikuko!_ she thought frantically, and then her friend’s voice rang out in a bloodcurdling scream from the other room.


	6. Good news! (Or not ...)

_“As reports continue to come in of Tokyo’s wild day, the initial feared death toll among men has proven to be overstated. The trend currently seems to be almost no deaths among adolescents, with the numbers rapidly climbing with age._

_“As well, further reports are coming in of fresh outbreaks of uncontrolled sexual activity throughout the rest of Japan, as well as in cities in other countries throughout the world. The only common element so far linking the initial outbreaks in foreign countries is that all the cities were central hubs of international air travel, but later outbreaks are now occurring in smaller cities and some rural regions._

_“Here in Japan, the extremely high death toll reported among older men is creating chaos in the government, with a large majority of the Diet reported dead, as well as ...”_ — the radio newscaster’s voice turned shaky for a moment, then after a pause firmed up — _“... every male adult member of the Imperial family....”_

The sound of someone coming through the front door of the Cat Café distracted Ku Lon from the news program she’d been listening to on the radio she’d brought into the dining room. She turned to see what customers had actually come in on such a day, then straightened abruptly at the sight of two teenage girls, the raven-haired youngest Tendo and Xian Pu’s _Airen_ in ‘cute redhead’ mode. Ku Lon’s eyes narrowed at the two girls’ body language, the way Akane was walking half a step ahead of Ranma, and Ranma with her habitual swagger and probably unaware of the way she was clutching Akane’s hand — and Ranma wasn’t wet.

“Akane, Son-in-law, this is a surprise,” Ku Lon said, as she went to greet her guests. “Am I to assume that after yesterday’s events you aren’t here for ramen or to visit your wife?”

“Yeah, you could say that,” Ranma said as the couple stopped just outside of immediate striking range. “I —”

“We,” Akane corrected, giving her fiancé’s hand a squeeze.

Ranma gave Akane a brief, slight smile, then turned back to the Amazon matriarch. “ _We_ have a ... a problem ...”

“You are locked again, correct?” Ku Lon asked with a sigh.

Ranma nodded. “Yeah, learned about it in the furo this mornin’,” she mumbled, looking at her feet. “I can’t think a’ nothin’ besides what ... what hit everyone yesterday ta explain it, wondered if ya might have an idea what magic is causin’ it this time.”

“No, Ranma, there is no magic involved in yesterday’s events,” Ku Lon said. “I checked as soon as yesterday’s noon rush turned into an orgy.”

‘No, ya got ta be wrong!” Ranma insisted, voice rising toward a shout. “Nothin’ natural could affect the curse!”

“Actually, there is one perfectly natural event that could lock the curse, but in this case it wouldn’t —” Ku Lon abruptly broke off. For a time she stared into space, then refocused on an increasingly nervous Ranma. “Child, come here,” she said softly.

For a long moment Ranma stood frozen in place, her nervousness transmuted to cold fear by the gentle tone in Ku Lon’s voice like she and Akane had never heard before. Finally, as Ku Lon simply waited, she moved forward with a jerk as Akane quietly stepped forward and pulled her lover along with her.

As the couple approached, Ku Lon leaped up to stand on a chair, then reached out and laid a hand on Ranma’s stomach. Ranma gasped as that hand seemed to glow a soft gold and she felt a comfortable warmth fill her mid-section. A moment later the warmth receded as the glow around Ku Lon’s hand faded.

After a few minutes of the matriarch staring into space, Ranma asked, “Well? What?”

Ku Lon refocused on the pair. Ignoring Ranma’s question, she turned to Akane. “Come here, child,” she ordered, motioning her closer. Akane stepped forward, then gasped as Ku Lon reached out to touch her own stomach with a glowing hand. As the glow faded a second time, Ku Lon looked thoughtfully at the pair, then turned to shout toward the back, “Xian Pu, come here, now!”

“Coming, Great-grandmother!” came back the instant response, and less than a minute later Xian Pu bounded into the room then squealed at the sight of Ranma. _“Airen!”_ she called out, and rushed forward to glomp her ‘husband’, only to be stopped short by Ku Lon’s staff blocking her path. “Great-grandmother?” she asked uncertainly.

“Come here, Great-granddaughter,” Ku Lon ordered. She again laid a glowing hand against Xian Pu’s stomach when she approached, then when the glow faded from her hand sighed and leaped to the top of the table by her chair and motioned the three girls to sit down.

“So, good news first,” the ancient Amazon said, and turned to Xian Pu. “Great-granddaughter, we are finally free to return home with honor — you are pregnant with Ranma’s daughter, and Ranma,” she added, turning to the redhead, “the Kiss of Marriage is no longer applicable.”

“What!?” Xian Pu shouted as Ranma brightened and Akane began to turn purple with reflexive anger. “No! Pregnancy no end Kiss of Marriage, that only happen if —” She broke off, gaping.

Ku Lon nodded soberly, eyes still on her heir’s former ‘husband’. “Yes, that’s the bad news. Ranma, the Kiss of Marriage no longer applies because in the eyes of Amazon law you are no longer a man, but a woman ... because of your own pregnancy. I’m not going to ask how you ended up with the Lost Boy.”

Ranma swayed in her seat, blanching as a shocked calm Akane quickly reached out to steady her. “But ... but it’s only been half a day!” Ranma shouted. “I can’t be pregnant, not yet! D-D-Doesn’t it take longer — days?”

“No, conception can occur from a few minutes to a few hours,” Ku Lon corrected. “However, there _is_ something odd going on. Normally, the curse doesn’t lock until around eight days after conception, I have no idea why it has happened so quickly. Perhaps it has something to do with why all three of you are pregnant, _that_ shouldn’t have happened, either. I can only speculate that whatever caused yesterday’s mass orgy was also designed to greatly enhance women’s fertility, and has somehow hastened the lock.”

“But ... but that w-w-would mean all those ...” Ranma stuttered out, thoughts of all the girls he had encountered over the course of the previous day flashing through her mind, then slumped and started to slip from her chair as she fainted dead away. Only a hasty grab by Akane prevented her fiancé from ending up on the floor, and the youngest Tendo quickly pulled the limp redhead into her lap.

“Ranma ... ?” Akane queried, then glanced up in confusion at the two Amazons. “ ‘All those’ what?” she asked in bewilderment. “I don’t understand ...”

Ku Lon stared at the unconscious redhead, then began to chuckle, then broke out into full-throated laughter. Only when Akane’s confusion started turning into frustrated anger did she manage to bring her laughter under control. “Only Ranma,” she muttered with a few final chuckles, shaking her head. “Then again, considering yesterday perhaps not.” Turning back to Akane, she said, “Tell me, Akane, besides you, how many other girls at school did Ranma have sex with yesterday?”

“I wasn’t at school yesterday, I stayed home ... sick.”

“But Ranma didn’t, did he?”

“No ... no, he didn’t,” Akane replied faintly.

“And what time did he join you at the dojo?” Ku Lon queried.

Blushing bright red, Akane stuttered, “S-S-Sometime in the aft-t-ternoon, why, what does that matter?”

“And he didn’t bring any other girl with him?”

“Of course not!” Akane shouted.

“There’s no ‘of course not’ about it, child,” Ku Lon disagreed. “Those two facts are important because the orgies started around noon. If Ranma was at the school, the possibility that you were the only girl he had sex with is vanishingly small — but the fact that he didn’t bring another girl with him is impressive in its own way.”

At Akane’s scandalized glare, Ku Lon shrugged. “The same thing happened here, child, and I assume it followed the same pattern. First, all the men and women were grabbing the closest available partner. Then, they collapsed into exhausted sleep, to eventually wake up for another round. Very few actually left before I woke them up and shooed them out the door this morning, and those that did took partners with them, not necessarily the ones they started with. Xian Pu, just where did you encounter Ranma?”

“On road between school and dojo,” the purple-haired teenager replied thoughtfully.

Ku Lon nodded. “Just so, Ranma was trying to get home, and I doubt you were the only one to jump him on the way,” she said, and turned to Akane. “I must say I’m impressed, both by the stamina that kept Ranma on his feet long enough to bring him home to you, and by his determination to get back to you. You have quite a man, don’t let him get away from you.”

Akane stared dazedly at the shrunken crone for a long moment, then the last statement registered. “ ‘Man’? The lock isn’t permanent?”

Ku Lon shook her head. “No, it will last only until about a week after the pregnancy is ended, however it ends — miscarriage, abortion, birth, it doesn’t matter.”

At that, Akane slumped slightly in relief. Gently stroking the hair of the girl in her lap, she mused, “I’m glad. I would have stayed with him either way, but it’ll be good to have him back.”

“But, Great-grandmother, if lock temporary —” Xian Pu started, then broke off at Ku Lon’s glare.

“It’s over, Xian Pu,” Ku Lon stated firmly. “Do you really think you can convince the man that left you behind for another in the middle of _that_ mess to return to the village?”

Eyes dropping, Xian Pu stared at the table for a moment then sullenly shook her head. “No,” she whispered.

“Just so,” Ku Lon agreed. “At least you have his child, girl, be content with that.” Turning to Akane, she continued, “When Ranma wakes up, you might want to find out just how many _other_ girls might be able to say the same. You can probably start with Kasumi,” she added with a wry smile, “She was also home, I presume?”

Akane gaped at her, then stuttered, “Y-Y-Yes, she was, because I was sick. So was Nabiki, Kasumi told me she was sick, too ...” Akane’s hold on her fiancé tightened as she looked down at the redhead in her lap. “Ranma, what have we gotten ourselves into this time?”


	7. Bad News! (Or not ...)

On a small, tree-covered hill in a park, Akane glanced worriedly from where she sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, down at the buxom redhead lying and staring blankly up into the open sky. After a moment, the youngest Tendo looked away, her thoughts returning to her own new but already wellworn rut. _Two — Ranma and Ryoga both,_ she thought yet again, still in shock at the news she’d barely remembered to ask Ku Lon as the two were leaving the Cat Café.

And then there were all the girls that had gotten Ranma before he’d ever reached her: Hinako, Ukyo, Kodachi, Miyo, her older sisters, and more, and all of them almost certainly pregnant and not yet knowing it. _There’s going to quite a run on abortions, Ranma and I should get in line early, before most realize what’s happened,_ Akane thought yet again, but again made no move to shake Ranma from her reverie.

“Well, so much for keepin’ _that_ oath,” Ranma suddenly muttered, the first words she’d said since reluctantly telling Akane of all the other girls on their way to the park.

“What was that, Ranma? What oath?” Akane asked, eyes shooting back to her fiancé.

Ranma sat up, a hand unconsciously rising to her midsection, then she pulled her knees up to her chest. “I swore I’d never do ta my kids what Mom an’ Pop did ta me,” she said, staring down at the unusually empty park. “Treat my kids like tools, just tossing them away. No, I was gonna make sure they were taken care of, raised right. Now, there’s no way I can do that — there’s just too many, and I’m gonna have ... my own, and ... an’ I don’t know how ...”

She started to shake, and Akane quickly pulled the shuddering girl into a hug. After a moment, she whispered, “Ranma, you — we’re so young, too young, you’re not really a girl, the morning after pill probably wouldn’t work but we can get abortions ...”

Ranma stiffened for a moment, then Akane felt her head shake against her shoulder. “No, Akane, no abortion — not fer me. A martial artist protects the helpless an’ innocent, an’ there’s nothin’ more helpless an’ innocent than a baby.”

Akane froze. _Did he just ... ? Oh, damn, now I can’t ..._ For a moment, the familiar anger surged, but she managed to hold back her shout behind clenched teeth.  She was _not_ going to scream emprecations at Ranma — however good it would feel to let off some steam, what it would do to the fragile redhead didn’t bear thinking on. Finally forcing herself to relax, she sighed. “Then I won’t, either.”

“Akane, I ... I’m not tryin’ ta force ya to —” Ranma got out, but broke off when Akane twisted her head lightly kissed her fiancé on the forehead.

“I’m not going through our lives together having you thinking I killed your baby,” she whispered. “So we’ll just have to have our babies together.” With a shaky laugh, she added, “Maybe there being two of us will help make up for the fact that neither of us know anything about raising kids!”

“Well, there’s always Kasumi, I’m sure she’ll be happy ta help,” Ranma muttered, chuckling slightly herself.

_Haven’t quite thought this through, have you, love? Big sis is going to have her own problems, her own decision to make,_ Akane thought wryly as she tightened her hug and the two girls simply sat for a time. Finally, Akane sighed and broke off the embrace. “Come on, Ranma, we should head home. By now, Kasumi and Nabiki will be worrying about us.”

Ranma barked a laugh. “Kasumi, sure, but Nabiki?” But she rose to her feet alongside her lover, and the two headed down the hill.

/oOo\

“Tadaima!” Akane called as the two girls switched out of their outdoor footwear.

“Oh, you’re home! Come here, the family room!” they heard Kasumi call out.

They exchanged glances. Ranma shrugged and headed for the family room with Akane in her wake only to freeze in the room’s doorway. “Mom!” the redhead exclaimed, eyes wide. “Wh-what are ya doin’ here?”

The auburn-haired woman kneeling at the low table was her usual impeccable self, but she looked ... tired, beaten down somehow, something was wrong. And kneeling next to her was Kumon Ryu? What was going on?

Nodoka smiled stiffly, then frowned. “It is good to see you again, my son. I am here to ... discuss something touching on our family’s honor with your father. But ... why are you in your girl form?”

“Uh ...” Ranma stared at the two, barely even noticing Kasumi sitting to the side acting the good hostess, as she stepped into the room, making room for Akane to enter behind her. “Well, I gotta problem, too, it’ll take a few months ta work out —” Suddenly, she stiffened as realization hit. Staring at Ryu, her hands curled into fists. “You were at Mom’s place yesterday, when the city turned inta an orgy, weren’t you?” she demanded.

The blood draining from Ryu’s and her mother’s faces confirmed her guess, and Ranma tensed to launch herself at the boy even as he leaped to his feet, only to freeze as memories of what he’d experienced — what he’d done — the previous day rose in her mind. Slowly, she stepped forward and knelt across from her mother, motioning Ryu back down. “Not yer fault, not yesterday, nobody was in control, there’s ... there’s no dishonor,” she managed to get out through gritted teeth. _Even though Mom’s probably, pregnant, too ... oh, damn, she’s not gonna take that well._

“Thank you for that,” Nodoka said, smiling weakly as Ryu slowly knelt down again, Akane doing the same beside her fiancé. “But I’m afraid that will be your father’s decision. Now, what is this problem you have, that will take a few months to work out? Are you locked again?”

“Uh, well, yeah, I’m afraid so,” Ranma mumbled, looking down at the table. “Well, ya see ... it’s ... I’m ... we’re ...”

The sound of someone at the front gate interrupted her, and she breathed a sigh of relief as Kasumi hastily rose and hurried from the room. A few minutes later the eldest Tendo returned, accompanied by an attractive middle-aged blue-haired woman, Nabiki with them. “Everyone, we have another guest,” she announced. “This is Dr. Mizuno Saeko, she says she has news of the fathers.”

The stranger winced, but calmly knelt at the table and accepted a cup of tea from Kasumi.

Finally, courtesies exchanged, Dr. Mizuno put down her teacup as everyone felt their tightly wound nerves seem to sing with the tension that had filled the room.

“You said you had news of my husband, Saotome Genma?” Nodoka inquired politely.

Dr. Mizuno nodded, but said nothing for a long moment. Finally, she sighed. “You’d think I’d be used to this by now, after all these years as a doctor.” Taking a deep breath, she said, “Were all of you affected by whatever hit Tokyo yesterday?” Looking around at all the nods, she continued, “So were my friend, Tsukino Ikuko and I, and like so many others we ended up in bed with complete strangers — Saotome Genma and Tendo Soun. Only, when Ikuko and I woke up this morning ... they were both dead.”

For a long moment, the words didn’t register. Then they hammered home, and Kasumi gave a cry before slumping over in a faint, to be caught by a wide-eyed Nabiki.

“No ...” Akane whispered, before turning to bury her face against Ranma’s shoulder, the redhead’s arm circling her fiancée even as she stared wide-eyed at Dr. Mizuno.

_Pop ... gone? Just like that? But how ... ?_ “How?” she asked. “Pop’s been gettin’ a little lazy, lately, but he was still in better shape than just about everybody, how could he just ... just drop dead like that?”

“I don’t know, any more than I know why so many other men have died,” Dr. Mizuno mused sadly, eyes gazing off into nothing. “My friend’s husband didn’t make it, either. I’m afraid she didn’t take it well. She’s currently under sedation....”

“Other men? What other men?” Ranma asked, bewildered.

“Uh, Ranma, it’s been on the news,” Nabiki said hesitantly as she gently lay Kasumi down across her lap. “A lot of men died last night. Not many teenagers, but the older the man the more likely he was to not wake up this morning. I ... I didn’t mention it earlier because you and Akane had your own problems and there was nothing we could do anyway, no way to know where ... where the fathers were ...” her face crumpled for a moment before she forced it into an expressionless mask. “One more thing for you to be angry with me about, I’m sorry.”

After a moment Ranma shook her head. “Nah, like ya said, nothin’ I could do, we had our own problems. An’ speakin’ of that, I have news of my own.”

“Ranma, not right now, with a guest —” Akane started, breaking off when Ranma shook her head.

No, Dr. Mizuno needs ta know, too, since she was with one of the fathers last night. Hell, everyone’s gonna know soon enough.” Turning to the rest of the confused women in the room, she continued, “Ya see, there’s something else screwy about yesterday ...”


	8. Rising to Power

The Empress of Japan closed her eyes as she leaned back in her chair, alone at last for the first time since waking early that morning. She was tired ... so very tired, and her heart burned with loss like she had never felt in her life. Her husband was dead. So were her sons, along with every other adult male in her family, and she wanted nothing so much is to find a private place to wail out her pain.

But she couldn’t take the time to mourn — couldn’t even take more than a few minutes to rest — because the men of her family weren’t the only ones that were dead. Women and children across Japan were mourning their own loss, and among those mourning were the families of the Prime Minister, the entire Cabinet, all but a few of the House of Councillors, and a majority of the House of Representatives, not to mention the upper managers of the government bureaucracy. In the space of a day and a night the political leadership of Japan had been gutted, and she had gone from being a symbol filling a ceremonial role to the effective head of state, tasked with the chief responsibility of seeing to it that when those families finished their mourning and moved on with their lives they would still have a nation within which to do it and a future to look toward.

But she was so _very_ tired.

“Your Majesty, I apologize for intruding on one of your few chances to rest, but we need to talk.”

The Empress opened her eyes to find a young woman standing in front of her desk — a beautiful young woman, with long turquoise-shaded hair and a figure that made the scandalously short-skirted black and white sailor fuku she wore look good. The Empress’s eyes sharpened as she sat up. Her guest could not be older than her late twenties, but she carried an aura of power about her with an ease that the Empress had not seen equaled in all her years — and with her position, she had met the most powerful men and women in the world.

“Sailor Pluto,” she said in greeting. “Please, take a seat. Would you like some refreshments?”

Pluto carefully lowered herself into the offered chair with a sigh and shook her head as she braced the heart-shaped garnet-topped staff in her hand against another seat. “Thank you, but no. As much as I would like to, I’m afraid I don’t have the time.”

The Empress nodded, mind racing. Sailor Pluto’s youth might hide it well but she, too, was having a long day. So the Empress only asked, “To what do I owe the honor of your visit?”

Pluto was silent for a long moment as she leaned back in the chair before nodding. “I have some information and some advice. First, you made the right call when you slapped down the idiot that wanted to immediately institute an all-out effort to find those responsible for this. Your reasoning that we have more important things to focus on at the moment — liking making sure our food distribution doesn’t collapse like a house of cards — was certainly sound enough, but beyond that there’s no point. The responsible party wasn’t a hostile nation, but one bitter, deranged genius who had been shunned by our society all his life because of his gaijin blood and physical deformities. He was determined to teach us a lesson in the fallacy of racial purity.”

The Empress’s gaze sharpened. “You know a great deal about my deliberations, and found the source of the plague remarkably quickly.”

Pluto shrugged. “I can see into the past — _anywhere_ in the past,” she replied. “So when it comes to past events the only limit to my intelligence gathering capabilities is how much information I can absorb. In this case it wasn’t difficult to figure out, the number of geneticists that are capable of creating this catastrophe are in the single digits. The low single digits. In fact, at this point it might be zero. Dr. Moreau didn’t actually intend to kill anyone, and when he woke up this morning to find that he’d killed one in five sexually mature males on the entire planet he stepped off the roof of his company’s office building.”

“So all this death and chaos is because of a genius pushed to madness by our own blindness, and a stupid mistake,” the Empress mused. She closed her eyes as she fought to control her emotions, but couldn’t stop two tears from trickling down her cheeks.

Pluto politely looked away until her hostess had recovered her composure, then replied, “I know it is cold consolation, but as it is, we were lucky. If he _had_ intended to kill us off and had been as successful with that as he was with this, there wouldn’t be enough of us left alive to bury the dead. But I’m afraid we aren’t finished with what he did intend, he wanted to do more than just embarrass us all by sex with ‘inappropriate’ partners. He set out to have every woman affected by his bug become pregnant, and as far as I can tell he succeeded.”

The Empress froze. “Pregnant,” she repeated.

Pluto nodded.

“All of them,” the Empress added.

Pluto nodded.

The Empress forced herself to relax. “We aren’t going to have enough medical supplies in all of Japan for all the women seeking abortions.”

“And that is where my advice comes in,” Pluto said, leaning forward. “Your Majesty, while Dr. Moreau might have just intended to embarrass us and mix the races together, what he did was decapitate the leadership of every nation in the world. That isn’t too much of a problem for the republics — most of us have rules in place for elevating new leadership, and even for those of us where the catastrophe exceeds the process in place we’re accustomed to working things out through discussions and compromise. _We_ can deal with this. The dictatorships are another matter. Between internal power struggles and young fanatics suddenly being handed more power than they have common sense striking out at hated neighbors whatever the cost, much of the world is very quickly going to become a very ugly place.”

“Such as China,” the Empress said, expression hardening.

“Such as China,” Pluto agreed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the power struggle over party leadership tears China apart — it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened. There is no way that its collapse won’t involve all its neighbors, and even once that’s over the world is going to be a very different place. Your Majesty, I know that dealing with this large an influx of babies all at once will be a major undertaking, but if Japan is to continue to exist as we are for more than a generation we are going to _need_ those children.”

“An interesting point,” the Empress mused, “but I can hardly ban abortions throughout the island.”

“No, you can’t, not if you wish to maintain your ability to lead,” Pluto agreed. “But you can _ask_ that we accept the results of the last day and night. And you will have help in that. All of the Sailor Senshi except the youngest, Sailor Saturn, were caught up in the chaos and so are most likely pregnant. I think I can convince the others to keep our babies, and publicly say as much.” At the Empress’s lifted eyebrow, Pluto shrugged. “I know, while our fights have been fairly public, we ourselves have not. Perhaps it is time for that to change.

“As well, there are a couple changes in the laws governing marriage you might announce.” The Empress’s other eyebrow joined the first, but Pluto pushed on. “It will help convince women to keep their babies if they can legitimize them, and many of the fathers ... are not suitable. Others are not available because they are already married. If you announce that up to, say ... three women could marry the same man as did the samurai of old, that would give everyone additional options. As well, a temporary lowering of the age at which people can marry to around perhaps sixteen would help, both in convincing parents to support their daughters having their babies, and helping teenagers resist parents that _don’t_ want them to have their babies.”

“Interesting ideas, but you do know that I don’t have the authority to unilaterally change laws, don’t you?” the Empress asked, voice dry.

Pluto shrugged again. “So state that the changes will be provisional, to be ratified by the Diet once it is reconstituted. I hardly think that ... ah, _august_ body will reject your announcements at that point. Something similar worked for President Lincoln in the early months of the American Civil War.”

Taking a deep breath, she levered herself to her feet and picked up the Garnet Staff. “And now, I need to move on — more people to meet, to salvage as much as we can from this.”

For a long second the Empress observed her guest before pushing herself to her feet. The lithe, lovely woman _looked_ young, but for a moment it had seemed as if every year the Empress felt weighing on her shoulders were pressing down on the Senshi as well. “Thank you for the information, and the advice,” she said quietly. “I will consider both. And ... please feel free to drop in some other time when we aren’t trying to save the world, or at least as much of it as we can reach. I suspect I am going to need people around me that aren’t overly impressed with my position.”

A surprised smile lit up Pluto’s face. “Thank you, I will.” And then she was gone.

In the now empty office, in spite of the grief and responsibility still weighing on her, the Empress found herself smiling. It was good to know that she had someone to share the burden with, even if only in a small way. And perhaps even a friend. Straightening, she took a deep breath and pushed the button that would signal her secretaries, new and old, that she was again ready for them. Like Pluto, she too had her own people to meet, to salvage as much as they could and rebuild.

/\

Pluto was still smiling as she arrived before the Time Gates — the invitation to visit had been a pleasant surprise. Surprises were rare for the Senshi of Time, and pleasant ones even more so.

Facing the massive doors, she waited a few seconds to give her future self an opportunity to pop in and make mysterious pronouncements about their future — nothing. Good, she _really_ wasn’t in the mood to deal with her own twisted excuse for a sense of humor at the moment.

With a sigh of relief she brought up the future scan function. As the flickering images covered the paneling on the doors showing the phases of the moon, she decided to take a moment’s self-indulgence and take a quick peek at her future relationship with the Empress. The results had her smiling again — it wouldn’t be a _long_ friendship, not as aged as the Empress was, but it would be a deeply satisfying one. Pluto was looking forward to her time with the woman that would become one of the most famous and revered rulers in Japanese history.

_Okay, Setsuna, enough playing._ Turning from her and the Empress she took a more general look at the immediate future and again sighed with relief. She didn’t know if the Empress had decided that her suggestions were good ones or simply to trust her, but the odds were as close to inevitability as they could get that she would follow Pluto’s lead in all particulars.

_And that means it’s time for you to deliver your side of the offer. Time to face the rest of the Senshi._ This time, it was _not_ something she was looking forward to, they were going to be deeply unhappy and demanding answers. They weren’t going to like those, either.


	9. Winter Is Coming

Mercury looked up from the Mercury Computer with relief when Mars walked back into the family room of the Hikawa Shrine, followed by Jupiter and Venus, the newcomers also their Senshi forms.  Mercury wondered if they were using their heroic identities the same way she was, to distance herself from the previous day’s events.  She was certain Mars was, with limited success.  Mercury had been the first to arrive for the meeting that Setsuna had called for, but had found a pale, bloodshot Mars that had obviously been crying.  Mercury had strongly suspected that she’d returned home from the citywide orgy they’d all been caught up in to find her grandfather missing or dead, but Mars hadn’t said anything about it and Mercury hadn’t had the courage to ask.  Then their princess and her fiancé had arrived, the blonde in her Senshi fuku and clutching her black housecat-like Mau advisor Luna to her chest, and the unusually silent leader of the Senshi hadn’t been in any better shape than Mars.  But the two newest arrivals looked to be more their normal selves.

In fact, Venus looked positively bubbly.  As soon as she strode through the door she put her own white-furred Mau advisor, Artemis, on the floor.  As he scampered toward Luna, still in Moon’s arms where she was sitting in Mamoru’s lap, Venus glanced around, saw Mercury, and bounced over to her.  “Hey, Mercury, Jupiter said you were at school, but she lost track of you at lunch.  Who was the lucky boy to win the attention of our too-scholarly bookhog?”

Mercury blushed.  “Venus, not now!” she whispered, glancing around.  “And it’s book _worm_.”

“But that makes no sense,” Venus insisted.  “What do worms have to do with anything?  As grabby as you get with books, though ...  But that’s not important, what dashing beau fought for your hand, and took you to his bed?  Or desk, or floor, whatever ... requiring minds want to know!”

Mercury glanced over at Jupiter as she joined them, but the tall brunette simply shrugged and Mercury sighed.  “Actually, Umino-kun _did_ trip another of the boys to get to me first,” she admitted.  “I never knew he was attracted to me, those big glasses he wears kept me from noticing.  What about you?  You weren’t in school.”

“Oh, I was at another school talking about staying off drugs,” Venus said airily.  “It’s the duty of a rising idol to spread the word!  I had plenty of adoring fans to scratch my niche.”

Mercury’s blush turned fiery enough to make her lightheaded.  She was trying to come up with a way to correct the gaffe without inviting the obvious rejoinder when she caught a hint of motion out of the corner of her eye and glanced over to find Mars raising her legs to hug her knees against her chest.  Mercury hissed, “Venus, not all of us are as happy about the experience as you are, so _shut up_!”

Venus gaped, stunned by the vehemence from her normally quiet friend, then followed her sideways glance to find Mars curled up in her chair with her face buried against her knees, and paled.  “Mars?  I-I’m sorry ... I didn’t mean ...”

Mars just curled tighter, but Venus’s uncharacteristic stammer caught Moon’s attention where she had been sitting staring into space, in Mamoru’s lap with his arms wrapped around her.  Her eyes slowly focused on her raven-haired teammate, then she pushed herself up out of her fiancé’s lap, put Luna down on the arm of the chair beside Artemis, and slowly walked over to lay a hand on Mar’s shoulder.  “Mars-chan?” she asked softly.

Mars looked up at the sound of her princess’s voice, and exploded out of her chair, knocking Moon back several steps.  Moon’s arms instinctively circled her as she almost spun in place keeping them up.  Catching her balance, for long minutes she simply stood in the middle of the shocked silent room returning the hug of the girl clutching desperately at her, feeling shudders running through Mars’s body.  When the shudders finally eased off, she guided Mars back to her chair and sat down with the miko in her lap.  Mars snuggled up against her with her face pressed against Moon’s shoulder and went limp with a sigh as Moon began to stroke her hair.

Venus and Jupiter sat down, beside each other on a couch.  Mercury tried to return to her study of the pattern of the spreading citywide orgies throughout the world, but couldn’t focus as the silence of the room seemed to sing with tension, Moon’s murmured comfort a soft counterpoint.

Then the door opened again and Setsuna strode into the room, followed by Uranus, Neptune and Saturn.  Her gaze swept around the room, lingering for a moment on Moon and Mars.  She sighed, then motioned the others to their usual places on the only empty couch before walking over to stand by a bookcase where everyone could see her.  If she was made uncomfortable by the fact that she was the only one in the room in her usual business attire rather than her Senshi fuku, it didn’t show on her calm face.  “I’m sure you all have a good idea why I called this meeting,” she began.

Moon looked up from the armful she was cuddling.  “Yes,” she said.  Her voice was tight with the effort not to scream out her anger at her advisor — as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t, not with a wounded Mars curled up in her lap.  “I would like to know why I woke up this morning in the Crown Arcade next to Motoki’s corpse — why my father is dead and my mother sedated.”  She heard Mars moan faintly, and tightened her hug.

Setsuna ignored the gasps of shock from the others and simply gazed calmly at her princess, then nodded.  “It started with the social ostracism of a half-gaijin scientist named Dr. Moreau …” she began.

/\

Setsuna’s tale of bigoted social ostracism and the catastrophe it had helped cause ended in a silence singing with tension as the girls stared at her in shock, except for a broadly grinning Venus.  _Three_ wives?

“Pregnant,” Mars finally whispered.

A sympathetic Setsuna nodded.

“And you want us all to keep the babies,” Mars said, more loudly.

When Setsuna simply nodded again, she jumped up from Moon’s lap and dashed from the room, Moon right behind her.

A miserable Mercury glanced around the room.  The other Senshi had been shocked by the horror of the tale, but for her the true horror came from something else entirely — how easily Setsuna could have prevented it.  Considering how hard the fallout had hit Moon and Mars, the temptation to keep silent, just let it go was overwhelming, growing stronger with each passing second, but she finally forced herself to sit up straight and reluctantly asked, “Setsuna, this wasn’t some natural disaster like a tsunami or volcano, this was a single madman, and there was no way you could have missed seeing this coming.  Was there?  Why didn’t you stop it?”

Even with the sudden jump in the level of tension in the room, Setsuna had to fight to suppress a smile.  _Good for you, Ami, I’m proud of you_ , she thought — that hadn’t been easy for the Senshi of Ice, the Time Gates had given her about a 60/40 chance of getting it right and Setsuna was happy that she’d succeeded.  It was always good to see her girls take a step along the road to becoming the princesses the world was going to need, even a small one.  And there was going to be nothing small about the next step for any of them.

“You are right, Mercury, I saw this coming weeks before Dr. Moreau released the virus, and let it happen.  Yes, it will cost the lives of over five hundred million men from the flu alone, and millions more of both sexes in the chaos that follows, but it will save many more lives in the long run.  Of those that catch the plague, the ones that that it kills will be the last to die of disease — any disease, anywhere, forever.”

Mercury’s jaw dropped.  “No more disease, ever again?” she whispered.

“Once the women too old to be affected by the flu are gone, never again.”

“But … but _how_?” Mercury demanded.  “I can’t even imagine where to begin researching something like that.  Dr. Moreau was really that good?”

“No, we were really that lucky — not at the height of the Silver Millennium were we able to do this.  He committed suicide not knowing what a gift he gave us.”  Setsuna sighed, and finally walked over and sat down in the seat Moon and Mars had abandoned.  “It was the universe rolling dice, a random mutation that caused the flu to permanently alter our immune systems.  And it isn’t just immunity to disease, either.  Everyone will have more energy, need less sleep, heal faster and without infections, be better able to deal with extremes of temperature — and never grow old.  Even those that have already aged will find themselves growing younger until they reach where they were around age twenty-five when they reached full maturity.”

“Mother is going to be thrilled,” Mercury murmured, mind racing as she thought of a world with the medical profession reduced to pain relief, surgery, stitches, setting broken bones, advice on diet....  “Fertility!” she shouted.  “Setsuna, the world’s population ... will explode ... oh.”

The other Senshi had been listening, a little lost in the flood of information piled on top of their shock at Setsuna’s initial report, and now Makoto demanded, “‘Oh’, _what_?”

“Oh, the Great Freeze,” Mercury replied, eyes unfocused as her mind raced, correlating the future she already knew of with the new facts.  “The next ice age that Setsuna told us was coming sooner or later, that’s going to kill off most of the human race.”  Focusing again on Setsuna, she asked, “But not as many now as before, right?”

Setsuna shook her head, smiling.  “The survival rate goes up by an order of magnitude.  It’ll help that after all the pregnancies from the flu, the birth rate is going to plummet, the flu also has an effect on how fertile we are — when the Great Freeze comes, children will be a much smaller percentage of the population than they would have been. Depending on how many years it holds off, of course.”

Venus waited for a moment, then said, “That’s good?”

Mercury smiled broadly, mind flashing from one aspect of the changed situation to another, when the Gulf Stream would destabilize and the snows sweep south with the glaciers not long behind them.  Fewer children meant more food for those able to contribute.  No disease meant no resurgence of the killers that had been almost but not quite stamped out such as the bubonic plague and, ironically, no reversion of the common flu to the dangerous killer it used to be.  Higher tolerance to temperature extremes meant fewer deaths from exposure (outside of the points where the massively sub-zero cold of the upper atmosphere was momentarily yanked down to the surface, of course, there would be _very_ few survivors from those fortunately limited spots)....  “Yes, Venus, that’s _very_ good.  It means the numbers of survivors go from tens of millions to hundreds of millions.”

She glanced toward the doorway that Mars and Moon had run through, and her grin vanished.  “I just hope it helps,” she murmured.  She hesitated for a moment, then began to get up out of her chair.  “I’ll tell Mars and Moon the good news, maybe it’ll make them feel better.”

“Wait!”

Mercury froze halfway out of her chair at Setsuna’s command.  “Wait?”

“Wait,” Setsuna repeated.  “You’re right, it’ll make them feel better, but you don’t want to disturb them right now.  Wait until they’re ready to come back out.”

Mercury hesitated.  There was something about Setsuna’s body language, she couldn’t pin it down, but she seemed ... pleased ... hopeful ... wistful?  Something ...  Mercury realized she’d been standing half up out of her chair staring at the Senshi of Time for over a minute while everyone else was staring at her.  Blushing furiously, she dropped back into her chair.  Frantically looking for a change of subject (and a shift of attention), she asked, “So, just how are we supposed to support the Empress’s call for everyone to not abort their babies?  We haven’t made a habit of holding press conferences....”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I "borrowed" the idea for the disease immunity and unaging side effects from a book call _Welcome, Chaos_ , by Kate Wilhelm, where some researchers in Germany during WWII discovered the same thing through a fluke, but it killed half of those that took the serum and none of the women could become pregnant. Then, after decades of research, they learned that the Soviets had discovered the same serum, and the wife of one of their researchers had managed to get pregnant....
> 
> The bad Ice Age science comes from the movie, "The Day After Tomorrow."


	10. Friends and Lovers

Moon followed the running Mars through her friend’s bedroom into her personal bathroom, catching up in time to close the bathroom door behind them as her friend knelt by the toilet.  She knelt beside her, gathering up the long dark hair to hold it out of the way as the Senshi of Fire noisily lost what little she’d been able to eat that day.  Finally, when even the dry heaves stopped, Moon dropped from her knees to sit on the tiled floor, and pulled Mars into her lap.  She ignored the smell of her friend’s breath to push Mars’ head down against her shoulder, then simply stared at the wall, her own her cheeks wet as Mars’ tears soaked into the weave of her uniform.

An endless time later the miko’s tears eased off, and Moon finally stirred.  “Come on, Rei, the floor’s hard.  Let’s get somewhere more comfortable,” she murmured.

Mars stirred and with a jerky nod shifted off Moon’s lap.  Moon stood, ignoring the tingling in her legs where they’d gone to sleep, and helped Mars to her feet.  She filled a glass from the sink for Mars to wash out her mouth, simply shook her head with a weak smile when Mars stammered out an apology for her breath, and handed her another small glass with some red mouthwash she’d found.

When Mars was done, Moon led her back into the bedroom and steered them over to sit down on the bed.  Mars laid her head on Moon’s shoulder again, and relaxed with a sigh as Moon began to gently stroke her hair.

After a few minutes, Mars murmured, “So, skipping school again?”

“What?”

“You were at the Crown Arcade.  So, skipping school again?”

For a moment, an image of what had greeted Usagi that morning flashed in front of her eyes — waking up to find herself clearheaded again, shivering naked on the bare floor of the Crown Arcade, surrounded by the remnants she and her first crush had torn off each other the previous day, staring into Motoki’s dead, already drying eyes.  She shook away the mental image, that wasn’t what her friend needed right now.  She’d deal with it later, with Mamoru’s help.  “But _Rei_ ,” she whined, “school is so _boring_!”

She felt the hot breath of Mars’ startled laughter on her neck at her reversion to the early days and smiled briefly, before sobering.  Her friend’s reaction had been even more extreme than hers, and she’d always been one of the strongest of the Senshi.  Hesitantly, she asked, “And what about you?  You go to an all-girls school — what did you do when the urge hit, go out and ambush men on the street?”

Mars stiffened in her arms.  After a long minute of silence, so quietly Moon could barely hear her she said, “I didn’t go to school — I was too sick.”

Too sick?  But that would mean Rei was _home_ when —

Moon froze.

Feeling her friend’s sudden stiffness, Mars sighed and began to push herself away, only for Moon to shake herself free of her shock and abruptly pull her back into a tight embrace.

“Your grandfather?” Moon whispered, and felt the brush of Mars’ cheek against her neck as she nodded with a sniffle.  “I’m sorry.”

“I woke up in his bed this morning, he was already cold,” Mars murmured.  “I buried him in the flower gard-d-d-d —”

“Shhhh, it’ll be all right,” Moon whispered, and resumed stroking Mars’ hair and murmured comfort as her friend buried her face in the crook of Moon’s neck, her shoulders shaking.  Now she knew why Mars had reacted to Pluto’s news so strongly, because like the rest of them she was pregnant — only in her case, her baby was also her aunt or uncle.

When Mars finally relaxed again — even more than before, limp in Moon’s arms — Moon said, “You could get an abortion.  I don’t care what Setsuna says, if she objects I’ll rant at her.”  Actually, she might rant at Setsuna, regardless.  There was a core of pure anger at the latest twist Fate had thrown at them that she was ruthlessly suppressing for her friend’s sake, and for some bizarre reason the ancient guardian of the Time Gates had actually seemed to _like_ it the few times her Princess had blown up at her.

But Mars shook her head.  “No, I can’t.  If we’re to be the examples the Empress needs, _none_ of us can get abortions — not even our little Firefly, all we can do is hope she has a miscarriage.  Besides, I got a call from Father’s secretary, his playtime with her yesterday killed him.  When she gets an abortion — and she will, she isn’t one to let anything get in the way of her fun — my baby will be all the family I have left.”

“No, Rei, not the only family.  The rest of us aren’t going anywhere, you’re stuck with us now.”

“It’s not the same,” Mars muttered, but she turned in Moon’s arms so that her own arms could circle her Princess.  Minute after minute ticked by as the two simply sat, luxuriating in the comfort of the other’s touch.

Then Mars murmured, “I wish it had been you.”

It took a few seconds for the words to penetrate the peace of the moment, but when they did Moon gasped, “What!?”  She couldn’t mean what —

Mars sighed and reluctantly broke their mutual embrace, pulling back to gaze into Moon’s blue eyes wide in shock.  “I said, I wish it had been you — my first time.”

“Me!?  You ... I ... You never showed ... But what about when you and Mam-chan — ?” Moon babbled, until Mars reached up to lay a finger across her lips.

“Yes, if you and Mamoru hadn’t been destined to be together he would have been a marvelous consolation prize,” Mars replied.  “He was kind, considerate, patient, caring, and lacking in ambition.  In fact, he’s everything my father isn’t.”  She giggled at the look of disbelief on Moon’s face.  “Okay, he didn’t act like that with _you_ in the beginning, but you weren’t exactly your normal self, either.  You both got over it, like Darcy and Elizabeth.  Still ...”  Her eyes dropped, her fingers playing with the hem of her costume’s miniskirt.

“Still, he wasn’t you.  Do you remember how you were when we met?  I can’t think of anyone less suited to be a warrior princess and future queen — you were a lazy, whiny crybaby who _really_ didn’t want to be there.  If you hadn’t had the destiny Queen Serenity shoved off on us, when you grew up you would have made a _marvelous_ mother, teacher, anything to do with children, with the way you love _everybody_ just because.  But no matter how poorly suited you were and how much you hated it, you buckled down and _did the job_ ... eventually.”  She giggled again for a moment.  “And when you did you were the strongest of us, without becoming jaded. Without losing the ability to love everyone you meet.  Do you have any idea how impressive that is ... how _attractive_ it is?  I’m surprised Haruka and Michiru haven’t made a play for you — even as close as they are, if it wasn’t so obvious that you and Mamoru are glued at the hip they probably would have.”  Her eyes still on her fingers playing with her miniskirt’s hem, Mars didn’t notice Moon’s sudden fiery blush as certain confusing offhand comments the Outers couple had made suddenly became clear to her.

Mars sighed.  “But you and Mamoru _are_ joined at the hip.  Let’s rejoin the others, they’re probably wondering what’s happened to us.”  She began to rise, only to pause as Moon grabbed her hand.

“Wait!  Wait,” Moon repeated pulling Mars back down onto the bed.”You ... you can still have your first time,” she said softly.  As Mars stared at her, eyes wide, she continued on pure instinct, “Setsuna said there’ll be up to three wives per husband, will you join me and Mam-chan?  Will you marry us?”

Mars stared at her.

Moon asked again, “Will you?”

Mars started to nod, slowly at first then with growing vigor.  “Yes, yes, yes!”

_I hope I know what I’m doing_.  Moon leaned forward to press her lips against her friend’s in a long, gentle kiss, then straightened to smile at her.  “I don’t have a ring to give you, would you accept your first time of many with me instead?”

Mars gazed searchingly at Moon for a long moment, before leaning forward to return the soft kiss that Moon had given her.  Moon’s eyes closed as the kiss deepened, her arms rising to circle her friend.  Mars’ mouth tasted of strawberry from the mouthwash.

This wasn’t anything like the previous day — that had been tangle of almost bruising demand and tearing clothing, made hazy by the flu-induced need driving her and Motoki.  This was a slow, hesitant, gentle insistence that Moon couldn’t understand.  It was what Mars wanted, wasn’t it?  So why was she shaking?   _Because she’s scared_ , Moon realized.

But not so afraid that her arms hadn’t circled her Princess.  Now one hand slipped up under Moon’s wide blue collar to the back of her neck to press a finger against her uniform’s clasp point before running down her back, splitting the seam of Moon’s uniform down her backbone.  Moon distantly thought that she was glad Ami had thought to ask Setsuna how they were supposed to get out of their uniforms while still in Senshi form.

Then Mars’ finger reached the base of Moon’s backbone, leaving her uniform split down her entire back, and reached up again to slip a finger under Moon’s collar to the left of the broach resting between her breasts, then slid along the neckline as the collar fell away in the finger’s wake to the back of her neck.  There Moon’s collar sprang apart and the cloth covering her torso went loose.

All through the undressing Mars’s lips had never left her new lover’s, her kisses growing more confident and demanding as her shaking eased, but now she broke away to lean back.  She asked, “Usagi, are you really sure you want this?  I don’t want you to regret it later.”

Moon just smiled and peeled off first one of her long white gloves and then the other, tossing them to the side.  “Take off your gloves,” she said in a husky voice, “I want to feel your bare skin on mine.”

Mars complied with her request, tossing her gloves on top of Moon’s, then reached up to Moon’s shoulders to slide her sleeveless upper garment down her arms until Moon pulled them free, allowing the top to pool on top of her blue miniskirt.  Moon lay back and lifted her hips, and Mars slid the garment past her hips, down her legs and off, leaving Moon in only her knee-high red boots.

That done, Mars paused for a moment, sitting up on the bed to run her eyes over Moon’s naked form, her gaze lingering for a moment on her firm, perky breasts with areola already crinkling tight with lust, and again at the rectangle of light blond curls above nether lips already glistening faintly.  Moon shivered at the way Mars lit up at the signs of Moon’s anticipation.  It wasn’t the first time she’d been naked in her friend’s presence — even though they attended different schools, the Senshi had visited some hot springs together over the years — but before Rei had always seemed shy, had avoided really looking at her.  Usagi had always assumed that her teammate was a bit of a prude thanks to the nuns that taught her and her lack of a mother, but now her hungry eyes told a very different story.

Moon lifted her arms, spreading them in an invitation.  “Come here, lover,” she said, voice husky with need.

All hesitancy gone, Mars eagerly complied, leaning down into the offered embrace, stretching herself across her Princess as their mouths again joined, her tongue pushing against Moon’s lips.

Even as Moon’s lips parted and Mars’ tongue pushed into her mouth to duel with hers, Moon’s hand found the same clasp point underneath the back of Mars’s wide collar, and it was her turn to run a finger down her friend’s back, cloth parting behind it.  But even as her fingers sought out the second clasp point under Mars’s front bow, Mars broke their embrace to begin slipping down, her body stretched out alongside Moon’s, trailing kisses along her jaw and neck as she went, the base of her throat, along the upper swell of one firm breast, until Moon sucked in a breath.  Her hands clutched at the bed cover as her lover’s lips gently captured a crinkled-tight nipple.

Moon moaned at the wet feel of Mars’ tongue playing with her, circling her areola, flicking across the protruding nub at its center.  She was so caught up in the sensation that she barely noticed one of Mars’s hands drifting down along her torso, softly stroking over her stomach.

But she noticed when those fingers slipped through the damp pubic curls of her mound, across her protruding nub, and between her slick folds.  She gave out a faint, breathy shriek, back arching as the fingers probed into her cleft — this was so much _better_ than her own solitary explorations.  She writhed in place, and the seal Mars’ mouth had on her breast broke.

Mars propped herself up on one elbow, her fingers buried in Moon’s cleft pausing in their probe into her depths.  “I’m glad you’re enjoying this so much, but you’re making it a bit difficult.  So ...”  She bent back down but ignored the saliva-coated red-tipped mound she had been pleasuring to gently suck on the one on the far side, using her own body to partially pin Moon in place.

Moon gasped and moaned, her hips repeatedly thrusting themselves upward as Mars’ fingers resumed their probing.  She could feel the pressure building, familiar from her own self-stimulations and what she could remember of the day before, the wave growing higher and higher.  Then it broke and she bucked and twisted, shoving Mars off, shrieking out her pleasure as it smashed through her, trying to drive her under.

It didn’t manage that, quite, and the two girls lay beside each other and gazed up at the ceiling, one coated in sweat and gasping for breath as shudders ran the length of her body and the other smiling contentedly as she sucked her fingers clean of her lover’s juices.

Neither one noticed that in their earlier haste, they’d neglected to close the bedroom door.

/\

As the sound of Moon’s cry of release echoed down the hallway into the family room, all the girls waiting there turned as one to stare at Mamoru.  He gazed back at them levelly, then shrugged. “You all knew it was only a matter of time before Rei revealed how she felt to Usagi, and when did Usagi ever refuse a friend?  I was wondering how we were going to handle it when this happened.”  He looked over at Setsuna.  “You said up to three wives?”  At her nod, he shrugged again.  “So there’ll be two brides at the wedding instead of one, and we can raise our children together.  And they _will_ be my children, whoever the actual fathers were.”

Uranus abruptly leapt to her feet from the couch where she’d been sitting with their adopted daughter between her and her lover.  She pumped an arm in victory.  “Yes!  It’s about time!  Ow!”  She turned to glare down at Neptune, rubbing the buttock where her lover had just delivered a stinging slap.  “What was that for?  You’ve been looking forward to this as much as I have.”

“Yes I have, but this is _not_ how I wanted it to happen.  In spite of what that sounded like they both _have_ to be hurting, and will need all the help we can give them.”  Face stern, she pointed at where Uranus had been sitting.  “So you are going to sit down, and when they return you are _not_ going to make any jokes, innuendos, double entendres, or anything else.  In fact, it would be best if you didn’t say anything at all.  If you don’t think you can do that, wait for us outside.”

“Yes, Dear.”

As a shamefaced Uranus sat back down, Neptune looked over at Pluto.  “Are they actually going to be all right?  I mean, what you told us about Mars and her grandfather ...”  She shuddered.

Pluto nodded.  “Yes, they will.  Oh, it’s going to be rough — the fact that making babies they’ll love killed people they _also_ loved isn’t going to be easy to deal with — but with our help they’ll get over it.  And they will be stronger as a result.  The two combined will be an even better queen than Usagi alone, even if our dumpling head will be the public face.”  Glancing apologetically over at Mamoru, Pluto added, “No offense, but you just aren’t forceful enough to curb Usagi’s overly charitable instincts.  The rest of us would have tried, but even very close friends don’t carry the same weight as lovers.”  With a grimace, she added, “The number of times Usagi’s been right and we were wrong doesn’t help, but she was looking at some painful lessons down the road that maybe she can avoid, now.”

“So how long do we still have to wait?” Venus demanded, pouting.  “I’m bored!”

Pluto shifted her gaze to the blonde Senshi, once again weighing the benefit of everyone giving their instant support to Mars and Moon’s new dynamic against the chance of Venus sticking her foot in her mouth up to the knee.   _I know some wounds take longer than others to heal, but I’m going to be_ very _happy when more than just the occasional flash of the elegant, intelligent, refined Venus I knew before the Fall comes through._

Deciding that Venus was still more likely to help than her absence would hurt (and any road, unable to come up with a graceful way to send her away while keeping the rest), Pluto glanced up at the clock and considered timing.  “That was probably the first, so let’s give it another half hour, forty-five minutes before we send someone to roust them out.  So who do we send?”

She looked around, grinning at the sight of suddenly pale faces, then every girl in the room again turned to stare at Mamoru.

/\

Moon’s breathing slowly settled from gasps to deep breaths and finally to her normal rhythm, and she turned her head toward Mars to find the raven-haired girl looking back at her.

Mars asked, “Shall we rejoin the others?”

“Oh no, not yet,” Moon disagreed.  She sat up and stretched, smiling with delight even as she blushed at the way Mars’ eyes lit up at the sight.  “You gave me a wonderful first time with you, but we haven’t had your first time with me, yet.  And for the first time since you became Mars you are _woefully_ overdressed in that uniform, you didn’t give me a chance to finish taking it off you.  So come on, up, up!  Let’s get off more than your gloves!”

Now Mars was blushing as well, but eagerly slid off the bed and stepped back against the bedroom wall so that her princess could have a full frontal view.  She bent down to remove first one shoe than the other, then straightened and reached up under the purple bow on her chest to the edge of her red collar’s seam to finish what Moon had started.  She ran her finger along the seam underneath, and the collar fell away until her finger reached the back of her neck and the top of the back seam Moon had opened, then shrugged her shoulders to push her white uniform top off to slide down her arms and pool around her waist and red miniskirt.  She paused for a moment to reach up and cup her breasts, eyes fixed on Moon’s as she ran her thumbs across her taut, protruding nipples, then reached down to slide her uniform past her hips and down her legs.  Stepping out of it and kicking it to the side, she straightened and struck a pose, spreading her legs as she leaned back against the wall.

Moon’s eyes drifted downward from Mars’s hungry violet eyes framed by her long raven tresses, over firm breasts perfect for her size with small areolas and nipples sharpened to points by lust, down across her smoothly toned abdomen, the damp triangle of trimmed dark pubic curls, engorged nether lips leaking fluid, and muscled legs.

Moon was ... disappointed.  There was no denying that Mars was beautiful, and she loved Rei dearly, but ... but she was missing the kind of thrill she’d had felt, the last time they’d all gone to the beach and she’d seen Mamoru in the tight swimming briefs all the girls had insisted he wear.  Though she shouldn’t have been surprised — Minako’s swimsuit had barely existed, and while then as now she had felt _something_ , she hadn’t joined Haruka and Michiru (and quite a few male passersby) in drooling at the spectacle.   _Well, if I don’t have lust, love will be enough,_ she thought as she swung her legs off the bed and rose to her feet.  Thanks to the boots she was still wearing, for once she was actually the taller of the two.   _Besides, I think I’m still shivering from what her mouth and fingers did to me!  Time to return the favor._  She strode over to the eager girl, hands rising to bury themselves in luxurious raven hair as she leaned down to press her lips against Mars’s.

As the kiss deepened Mars’ arms rose to lock around her shoulders and pull them tight, crushing their breasts together.

Finally, Moon reluctantly broke the kiss — as much as she was enjoying it, they were on something of a schedule.  Besides, it had served its purpose, Mars was practically panting.  Time to get on to the main event, something Haruka had talked to her about once in great detail (she still thought her friend had been trying to make her pass out from embarrassment, however much Haruka had sworn she was helping her prepare for her wedding night with Mamoru).  Moon gently removed Mars’s hands from her shoulders and dropped to her knees.

She’d never been this close to another woman’s cleft before, and certainly never seen a woman as aroused as Mars, so she paused for a moment to take examine the sight — Mars’s engorged nether lips, protruding clit, juices leaking out to coat the inside of her thighs and trail down her legs.  Moon took a deep breath to savor the aroma, then looked up at her lover’s wide eyes staring down at her.  “Lovely,” she whispered, then leaned forward to cover those wet lips with her mouth.

Of course even with Haruka’s lecture Moon didn’t know what she was doing, not really.  But she at least had her own previous self-exploration to help, and the pattern of Mars’ own rising tide of eager gasps and moans at the sensations caused by Moon’s tongue as she eagerly explored her new lover’s depths were a _fine_ guide.  Finally, Mars grabbed the “odangos” at the base of her long ribbons of hair as she thrust her hips forward to bury Moon’s face in her cleft, shouting.  For a long moment Moon couldn’t breathe, drowning in the juices that seemed to be gushing from her friend’s depths, but she managed to brace her hands against Mars’ hips and push away.  Mars’s knees gave way, and she slid down the wall to thump into a shuddering, gasping heap on the floor.

As her breathing eased she pushed herself up to sit with her back against the wall.  “Sorry ‘bout ... ‘bout that,” she got out between breaths.  “Didn’t mean to ... grab you, there ... at the end.”  She managed to focus on the blonde kneeling in front of her, and her eyes widened at the sight.  “Wow, I ... slimed you pretty ... pretty good.  Come here.”  She spread her arms.

Moon leaned forward, ready for another kiss, but instead Mars leaned forward to begin licking her own juices off of Moon’s cheeks and chin.  Moon closed her eyes, relaxing as she was “cleaned,” then turned around to lean back against Mars, sighing happily as Mars’s arms circled her.  “Hope I wasn’t too clumsy,” she murmured.

“No, it was everything I’d dreamed of ... more,” Mars softly replied.

Moon laughed as one of Mars’s hands drifted down between her legs before reluctantly pulling the questing hand away from her still-damp folds and entwining her fingers with Mars’s.  “As much as I’d like some more, we don’t have time.  I think the others are waiting for us.”  She knew one roll in the sack wasn’t going to make Rei all better — that her friend, and herself for that matter, were in for some _very_ rough nights.  The dreams following some of the Senshi’s “adventures” had been bad, and in ways the previous day and that morning had been worse.  But for now, at least, the ghosts had been forced into hiding.

Mars grumped her agreement, but didn’t move.  Neither did Moon, lying propped up against her friend, Mars propped up against the wall, the two again simply luxuriating in each other’s body heat.

Then Mamoru stepped through the door and looked around.  “ _There_ you are!” he said cheerily to the backsides of two girls abruptly scrambling for their clothes.  “With the silence after that last shriek, we were beginning to wonder if you’d both passed out.”

Moon shrieked, “Chiba Mamora, what do you think you are _doing_?”  She grabbed up her uniform and plastered it across her breasts and hips as she whirled around to face him, Mars right beside her holding her own uniform up to her breasts with both hands.

“I’m looking for my two fiancées, and I didn’t see anything I won’t see in much more detail later,” Mamoru replied.  He turned his attention to Mars, taking one of her hands in his as he dropped to one knee.  “Hino Rei, will you do me and Usagi the honor of marrying us, of allowing us to be your lovers and a father and second mother to your child?” he asked, voice soft.  He kept his gaze fixed on her eyes and ignored the breast exposed when he’d taken her hand.

Mars stared at him, eyes wide — she’d been sure Usagi could talk him into accepting her as another wife, but hadn’t expected him to short circuit any need to convince him.  Finally she shook herself free of her shock (an elbow in the side from Moon helped), and shakily smiled.  “Of course, I’d be happy to,” she whispered, voice husky with unshed tears.  She allowed her uniform to drop to her feet, then dropped to her knees as she pulled her hand free from his and cupped his cheeks before leaning forward to kiss him.

Mamoru allowed the kiss to linger until Mars pulled back, then ‘oomph’ed as Moon knocked him onto his butt, her own uniform discarded in her tackle-hug, smothering him in kisses of her own.  “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she whispered in his ear.

“You’re very welcome,” he murmured back, even as his eyes traveled up the now-exposed body of Mars, risen to her feet and her arms crossed under her breasts, shaking her head and giggling at her princess’s antics.  Raising his voice, he continued, “But as much as I’m enjoying this, the two of you need to get cleaned up and rejoin everyone.  We need to discuss how we’ll support the Empress’s decisions.”

Mars flinched under his gaze then stiffened, refusing to cover herself.  “Certainly.  In the interest of time Usagi and me will need to take our shower together, though ...”  She drew out the last word suggestively, and Mamoru laughed even as a blushing Moon twisted in his lap to glare up at her now-co-fiancée.

“First, that wouldn’t save any time,” he replied after quickly getting his laughter under control.  “Second, there’s a faster way to do that — just revert to your civilian identities, then back.”

“Awwww, you’re no fun.”  Mars pouted for a moment, then sighed.  “I suppose if time is _that_ much of an issue we’ll simply have to use the _boring_ method.”

Moon interjected, “Right, that will give you time to pack after the meeting.”

“Pack?” Mars asked, confused.

“Pack,” Moon reiterated.  “You can’t come home with me yet, not with Mom so ... shaken up, but you are _not_ staying here alone.  Maybe Ami’s mom can take you in until things are more settled at my place.”

Mars flinched again at the mention of Moon’s mother, feeling guilty.  Yes, she’d woken up beside her dead grandfather that morning, but Usagi had done the same beside her first crush and lost a father she loved instead of hated, and had family to care for as well.  Yet since Mars had fled the family room, all Moon’s attention had been on her.   _That’s why I love her — why we_ all _love her_ , she thought.

Then what Moon had said caught up with her and she shuddered.  No, staying in the house where she’d used sex to kill her grandfather did not appeal to her at all.  “That sounds like an _excellent_ idea,” she agreed, “let’s go.”  She reached down a hand to pull Moon to her feet, and two quick transformations later (their uniforms vanishing from where they’d been scattered around the room when they reverted to their civilian — and also naked — identities, then reappearing in their usual place when the two girls again resumed their Senshi forms), the two now freshly clean girls followed Mamoru from the bedroom.


	11. Imperial Dictates

_One week later:_

Nabiki sat at her school desk in a gray fog, the teacher’s lesson rolling over her in an unintelligible stream of noise. Normally she didn’t have a problem paying at least enough attention to pick up on bits not in the book that she could review later from her recording and regurgitate back on the next test. It didn’t give her the best grades, but they were good enough — she couldn’t see herself as a corporate suit, anyway, so getting the _best_ grades so she could go to the _best_ university had seemed like a waste of effort, and a distraction from accumulating some yen and having fun in the process.

Now, though, even what attention she _had_ been able to give to her classes was beyond her as she fought a new constant enemy — fear. Fear, twisting her dreams and haunting her days until at times she found it hard to even breathe to the point that her vision swam. Her father was dead. Uncle Genma was dead. And the future she’d planned on was gone, lost in the chaos as the entire nation — the entire world — reeled from the blow. It hadn’t been _too_ obvious, but reading between the lines she knew that they’d come within a hair’s breadth of food riots and starvation and probably would have if the Empress hadn’t essentially nationalized distribution for the duration of the emergency. And the banks and stock market were still closed, as the government and legal system struggled to sort out who owned what even as they rebuilt themselves. At this point, Nabiki didn’t know if she was going to be able to move on with her life like nothing had happened (other than her own child, no way she could get an abortion of her own — not when Ranma was the father and it was her fault he was going to be a mother as well, however easily the redhead had forgiven her), or have to sell her body on the street just to put food on the table. If they could keep the table, that is, and the home around it — owning essentially their own city block was _expensive_ , and they’d lost their father’s income. And no way was the life insurance going to pay off, she didn't expect a single insurance company to survive.

And she wasn’t the only one that was afraid. Ranma, locked in girl form and pregnant, was a fragile shadow of what she had been. Oh, she was trying to pretend to be her usual confident self but it was forced, practically a caricature, and she couldn’t stop rubbing her stomach. And Akane never let her out of her sight, to the point of insisting her fiancé pack up what little she owned and move into her bedroom so they could share a bed. And they couldn’t spar, not at their level. _Note to self, check out padded armor for civilian full-contact sparring and competitions, maybe then Ranma and Akane can at least_ pretend _to spar._

They weren’t the only ones that had been shaken to their core. Kasumi was doing a better job of hiding her own state of mind than Ranma and Akane — especially _from_ Ranma and Akane — but she had her own moments when the youngest weren’t around that she would pause to stare into space. And Nabiki had been shocked when the serene foundation of the family had asked if she could sleep in Nabiki’s room. They’d even managed to share her bed, and though it was a close fit it had been a comfort — though Nabiki had an odd flutter in her chest, when she watched her older sister change into her night clothes, or dress in the morning for another day.   _Note to self, check out places selling used furniture or futons for some big enough for two people, two sets._

She could understand why school had been restarted after a couple days, though. It would take the minds of those that had attended hasty funerals off what had happened, and it wasn’t like the children could do anything else at the moment. And the familiar setting might even offer a patina of normality — most of the teachers and almost all of the students had survived, after all. Though the absence of some that _hadn’t_ survived made for some big holes — such as both male Kunos. (The principal’s death hadn’t surprised Nabiki at all, but Tatewaki’s had been a shock — still, she supposed an entire school bus full of cheerleaders might be a _bit_ much for any male that wasn’t named Ranma.) And Ranma spending all her time at school in girl-form and skipping gym class had been attracting odd looks, and people coming to Nabiki to buy the latest news and going away stunned when she refused to sell it to them.

“— the Empress’s announcement.”

The mention of the woman most responsible for holding the nation together yanked Nabiki from her circling thoughts. She looked up as the teacher walked over to the TV that had been set up in the classroom when she’d arrived that morning. _That’s right, the Empress is going to give us a pep talk today. We can certainly use the morale boost._

Not that it was actually going to _change_ anything, but it _would_ provide a nice distraction from her own worries, and amusing to check off the boxes. _Sorrow for the losses we’ve all suffered, check. Strong enough to endure the shock, check. Work together to rebuild our society, check. Banks instructed to hold off on any requiring payments on debts until everything is sorted out, good to hear, unlocking accounts to provide funds needed for basic necessities, even better. Wait, what? Pregnancy? Marriage?!_

She jerked upright as she listened to the new ‘rules’ the Empress was laying out (because of course, the Empress couldn’t unilaterally mandate _laws_ ) for those that chose to honor her request that they keep their babies — age at which girls and boys could marry without parental consent lowered to sixteen years, up to three women for any single man. _Three women._

Instantly, she grabbed her book bag and raced for the door and out, down the hallway toward Ranma and Akane’s classroom. She yanked the door open, ignoring the heads of the classroom’s students snapping toward her, and shouted, “Ranma, Akane, get your asses moving, we’re leaving _right now!_ ” The two girls paled and leaped up to grab their own schoolbags and run to the door, joining Nabiki in the hallway as she turned to stride down the hall for the stairwell.

Nabiki ignored their demands to know what was going on, scrabbling in her bag for her cell phone before yanking it out and hitting the speed dial for home. “Kasumi, were you watching the Empress’s announcement?” ... “Good, grab our personal documents and head for the city offices _right now_ , we’ll meet you there.” ... “Right, yours, mine, Akane’s and Ranma’s.” ... “See you there, we’re on our way.”

She hit the off button ending the call, and dropped her phone back in her bag before refocusing on her companions, the two easily keeping up with her. Actually, they could have left her in their dust, if there’d been a point to rushing ahead.

Akane, not even breathing heavily in spite of the brisk pace, finally asked, “Big sis, what’s going on, where are we going?”

“You ... listened to the ... Empress’s ... announcement, didn’t you?” Nabiki replied as she gasped for air.

“Yeah, so?”

Nabiki sighed (though it was a bit hard to tell, the way she was beginning to pant — she obviously needed to up her exercise routine, if the baby permitted). “So we’re headed to the city offices to get married.”

Ranma slammed to a stop, shouting, “What!?”

Nabiki sighed again, turning around to walk back to the other two. she carefully ignored the way Ranma was clutching Akane’s hand. “Yes, married. You _were_ planning on marrying my sister, weren’t you? You’d better be, considering how ... enthusiastically ... Akane has been fulfilling her ‘wifely duties’.”

Blushing furiously at the reference to the pair’s almost nightly sex, Ranma stuttered, “I ... well, yes, after ... you know, when I can fit right in a tux again.”

“So we though the party then,” Nabiki said with a shrug, “we just need to get the paperwork signed now — _right_ now, before the others realize what this means.” She waited for the light to dawn, but the two girls just stared at her in confusion.

“ _What_ others?” Akane asked.

 _Right, this isn’t martial arts related,_ of course _Ranma isn’t getting it. And I suppose Akane being so worried about him is enough to make her slow._ Sourly: _I suppose._  Still, the fear that had flared with the Empress’s announcement had shaken her new-won control and she snarked, “All the other girls Ranma fucked before he got to us — you know, the ones that just learned they’re carrying his babies? What do you think will be left of home if we don’t have all three slots filled before they get there?”

Both girls paled, and Ranma forced out, “Hey, wait, _all_ of ya? You an’ Kasumi, too?”

“Yes, us too.” Nabiki choked back the even more rude comment that sprang to mind about it only being natural for a ‘Wild Horse’ to have a herd, at least if it was a stallion and not a mare. Taking a deep breath, she said in as soft a tone as she could manage, “It’ll just be on paper, Kasumi and I aren’t going to expect you to show up in our beds. We just need to cut off any brawls over who gets to fill your other two slots. As it is, it’s a good thing Ukyo wasn’t at school today.” For that matter, the okonomiyaki chef hadn’t been to school at all since it reopened. _Note to self, find out what’s up with Ukyo before it comes back to bite us_. “We can get divorces later easily enough, once everything has calmed down.”

Akane reached one arm out around Ranma’s shoulder to pull her fiancé against her side. “Come on, Ranma, we just sign some papers and go home to send off any of the losers that show up, nothing changes. Nabiki’s right, we can still wait to throw the party later like we planned.”

“O-okay.” Ranma nodded and straightened, pulling herself away from her fiancée. Nabiki pretended not to notice how she immediately latched onto Akane’s hand, though.


	12. Holding Out for a Hero

Ukyo stared, gaping, at the radio as the Empress finished her broadcast, preparations for the lunch rush forgotten. Marriage? Younger? Multiple wives!? Ranma! While Ukyo was officially emancipated and so hadn’t needed her parents’ permission, Genma would never have agreed to allow Ranma to marry her so her only hope had been to wait until Ranma was twenty. Not anymore. And with up to three wives she wouldn’t even need to convince him to choose her over Akane, especially considering what his actions on The Day a week ago and failure to visit her since revealed about his true feelings. And if she was pregnant with his child —

She turned to the crossdressing ‘waitress’ that had been sharing her bed for the past week to tell ‘her’ to watch the restaurant while she ran over to the high school, and froze at the sight of Konatsu, shoulders hunch, face expressionless but ‘her’ eyes filled with resigned, wounded fear. _I can’t, I already proposed ..._ I _proposed. If I back out now he’ll never complain, but ... I’d never be able to look at myself in the mirror again._

She managed to keep her shoulders from slumping if not repress her sigh. She forced a smile and said, “Come on, Ko-chan, let’s go get married. You put up a sign saying we won’t be open for lunch and get changed into your best men’s clothes, and I’ll put the prep away and get gussied up. It’s not like business has been kicking down our doors the past week, anyway.”

The stunned joy that filled her fiancé’s face went a long way to easing her regret.

/\

“Hold on, Ko-chan.” At the sight of the four girls leaving the government offices, Ukyo grabbed Konatsu and pulled him down a cross-street. _Looks like it wouldn’t have mattered even if I_ had _rushed straight over to the high school._ It wasn’t hard to guess just why Ranma and all three Tendo sisters were there, after the Empress’s announcement it would be the same as Ukyo and her fiancé, after all. But for them to beat her and Konatsu they had to have moved awfully fast. _Nabiki, most likely. Kasumi probably sees farther, but Nabiki’s faster off the mark. And you don’t need to look very far to know what’ll happen to the dojo once word spreads, if Ranma didn’t get locked up fast. Poor guy, he was supposed to choose one of the Tendos and he gets all three._

Ukyo shook herself free from her thoughts and decided enough time had passed, Ranma and ‘her’ new wives would be well on their way home or back to school, whichever. _I wonder why Ran-chan was in his girl form? I’d think he’d want to be a guy when he got married._ After a moment’s reflection, she shrugged off the thought. He’d probably just gotten splashed on the way, and they hadn’t wanted to risk taking the time to find hot water. It wasn’t like the government drones would quibble, they knew who Ranma was — _all Nerima_ knew who Ranma was, what with all the weird stuff that had gone down the last couple years — and it wasn’t like the marriages would mean anything anyway, except maybe to Akane.

_You’re getting distracted again, girl. You’d think you didn’t want to do this._ She forced a smile for her fiancé. “Come on, Ko-chan, they should be on their way. Let’s go.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“I told you to stop calling me that,” Ukyo said with a sigh. “Especially not now, the office drones ... are likely to misunderstand.” She was a little surprised that Konatsu took her meaning, but his beet-red blush said he had.

The two walked in silence for a minute, turning the corner to find that Ranma and the Tendo sisters were indeed out of sight, much to their relief.

Just as they reached the doors (Ukyo’s eyes widening at the sight of the line she could see inside, apparently she and the Tendos hadn’t been the only ones to move in a hurry), Konatsu paused. “Mis ... ah, Ukyo?” He broke off to fiddle with the hem of his shirt, his eyes falling.

Ukyo waited for him to continue, then repressed a sigh when she realized he wasn’t going to. “Yes, Ko-chan, what is it?”

Konatsu sucked in a deep breath, and said, “After we close Ucchan’s tonight, I’d like to see how Mistress Kodachi is doing. From what I’ve overheard from our customers both her father and brother are dead, but they haven’t said anything about her and I’m worried.”

Ukyo’s instinctive response was to say ‘no’. True, the time they’d spent together while under the influence of the Lemon Flu had been fun, and the girl had been a surprisingly considerate lover, as concerned with Ukyo and Konatsu’s pleasure as her own. (Ukyo shied away again from remembering how the two had shared Ranma first, as she had been for the past week — though it was harder this time, since he was the probable father of her probable child.) Even so, from what Ukyo had heard the girl was spoiled, arrogant, and possibly delusional. _Still, Konatsu actually took the initiative —_ not _something he’s done much._ Finally, Ukyo forced another smile. “Sure, why not? Actually, why don’t you simply take the day off, head over as soon as we’re done here? I can handle whatever business comes our way.”

Konatsu looked up, and hesitantly smiled at the sight of her own. “Thank you, M-Ukyo,” he said quietly.

“No need to thank me, Sugar, nothing wrong with checking up on people you’re worried about. Now ...” She took a deep breath and pulled open the door. “... let’s go get married.”

/oOo\

Changed into his red battle uniform, the world’s best male kunoichi frowned as he balanced on the wall around the Kuno estate. Something was wrong. It was too quiet — not the tense quiet of unseen eyes and expectant threat, but the quiet of _no_ eyes, of abandonment and emptiness. And the lawn ... it was still its proper lush green, but it hadn’t been mowed in at least a week and had wind-blown trash scattered across it and trapped against the occasional statuary. For the proud (if insane) Kunos, that would be intolerable. And the door to the main entrance was wide open. Something was _very_ wrong.

_Only one way to find out what’s wrong, and perhaps no time to be cautious._ He dropped down inside the yard, and the expected automated defenses sprang to life, the statuary breaking open to reveal small machine guns, ‘sprinklers’ springing up to spray out gouts of flame or splashes of liquid that left smoking grass where it landed, nets springing up from the lawn. While individually easily dealt with or dodged, their numbers were actually high enough that by the time Konatsu reached the front door he was sweating heavily. It hadn’t been as good a workout as sparring with Ranma might have provided, but it had been strenuous enough. As soon as he reached the front porch, every one of the automated defenses shut down (minus the ones he’d stomped, kicked, or targeted with shuriken as he’d dodged and carved his way to the door, of course).

Inside the mansion, the unnatural quiet continued, except for the clamor of a distant alarm that just made things even worse thanks to the lack of a response. Konatsu knew nothing of the mansion’s internal layout, so lacking any better option he simply tried to find the source of the alarm, checking each room as he passed. The rooms were as empty as the lack of sound indicated, though whatever had emptied the mansion of servants hadn’t been violent — no signs of looting, no breakage, only a light dusting on the obscenely ostentatious furnishings and decorations that spoke of recent neglect. When he finally reached the alarm at about the middle of the mansion, he hadn’t seen a single hint that anyone else was around. Shrugging, he mentally flipped a coin to pick a wing and headed off, again checking each room as he passed.

Finally, after over an hour of room-by-room, floor-by floor search, at the end of the wing on the highest floor, he found Kodachi’s suite — and in the suite’s bedroom, Kodachi.

The last surviving Kuno was dressed in the same clothes she’d momentarily worn a week before when she and Mis ... and Ukyo had slaked their lust with him at Ucchan’s. She was lying unmoving on a bed that stank of human waste, staring at the ceiling, and for a moment Konatsu was afraid she was dead before he saw her eyelids blink.

Walking into the room and sitting on the edge of the bed, he asked, “Mistress Kodachi?”

Slowly, her eyes tracked over to him. “Not your mistress. Not anybody,” she husked. “Why — ?” She broke off and began to cough and gasp.

Konatsu looked around and saw a crystal pitcher half-full of water and a glass on a side table within arm’s reach. Quickly pouring a glass, he slid an arm under Kodachi’s neck and head to lift her up before holding the glass to her lips.

She sipped, sipped again, and finally tried again. She managed to whisper, “Why are you here?”

“Because I heard that your father and brother had died, and I was worried about you,” he instantly replied.

“Liar. The first time we met was when you fucked me, you can’t care. Nobody cares. Everybody leaves: my family, all the men I gave myself to, even my Ranma-sama. Everybody.”

“No, not everyone. Not me, I will prove it,” Konatsu promised. “But first, I need to get you to the hospital.” He started to pick her up, ignoring the filth, only to feel her attempt to struggle.

“Not ... not like this ... clean first,” she whispered.

_So she has some pride left, good._ He picked her up, ignoring her feeble struggles, and turned toward the bathroom he could see through an open door.

He had to refill the huge tub twice before the water stayed clear.

/\

Ukyo strode into the hospital waiting room and over to sit down next to her husband. She said, “Sorry to take so long, it took a little while for the restaurant to clear out. Anything new since you called me?”

“Yes, she’ll be fine,” Konatsu replied, smiling happily. “She’s badly dehydrated and suffering from starvation, but she’s enough of a martial artist that she isn’t in any danger. Even her baby should be fine.”

Ukyo sighed with relief. She couldn’t say she particularly liked Kodachi, but then she didn’t really _know_ her. But she actually had fond memories of the time and boys they’d shared, especially their short time with Ranma, and didn’t wish any harm on her temporary partner. Still, all’s well that ends well. “Good to hear, Ko-chan, good thing you acted on your worries. Since she’s going to be fine, let’s head home.”

Konatsu winced. “I ... uh ... well, I ... I’m sorry, Mistress, but I can’t.”

“You _can’t?_ ” Ukyo stared at him in shock. “Why _not?_ And don’t call me ‘Mistress’, _especially_ when you’re telling me that you can’t do what I say. So, why not?”

“Because ...” He stared down at his hands gripped tight together. “Ukyo, Mist ... ah, Kodachi almost died because she felt she had nothing to live for, no one who cares for her — that everybody leaves her. So ... I promised her that I wouldn’t. Leave her, that is. If I break that promise, she’ll simply try to kill herself again, and choose a faster method than dehydration.”

Now Ukyo’s shock was complete. She’d been hoping that Konatsu would develop more of a spine, but this ... ! “Konatsu, are you planning to _marry_ the girl?”

Konatsu bolted upright in his chair. “What!? No! I would never do that to you!”

Sighing with relief, Ukyo relaxed back into her chair ... until her shock settled and she started to think things over. Finally, she mused, “You may not have a choice, Ko-chan. If you don’t at least offer, she’s going to believe that I’m all-important and she’s with you on sufferance. That isn’t going to work.”

“Oh.” Konatsu seemed to shrink into himself. “You’re right, I didn’t think. I’m sorry, Mis — Ukyo.”

“Don’t be.” Ukyo leaned against him, one arm going around his shoulders. “You saved a life today, that’s nothing to be sorry for. I’m sure we can manage to find work for another waitress, somehow.” From what Konatsu had said Ukyo had no doubt about how Kodachi would react to his proposal — the man that cared enough that he had saved her life when he came looking for her? She’s latch onto him like a limpet. Even if Konatsu was usually more beautiful that either Ukyo (not hard) _or_ Kodachi. But now that she thought about it, Kodachi was the last surviving Kuno — and that meant she was loaded. Perhaps a bigger restaurant? There could be an upside to the mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news for everyone that likes this story! Not only do I have ideas for a few more chapters, but have already written over a thousand words of the next one — which means that instead of almost a year before the next chapter goes up, you'll only have to wait until I finish off _Future Imperfect_.
> 
> The chapter title comes from the song by Bonnie Tyler.


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